Buffy the Youkai Slayer
by Sharibet
Summary: Buffy & Inuyasha Xover: Buffy's vacationing in Tokyo when the Watcher's Council asks her to deal with a demon infestation at the Higurashi Shrine. IY Fanguild Best Xover for Winter 2003. IYKag
1. Every Lock Has A Key

Buffy the Youkai Slayer: an Inuyasha-Buffy crossover 

_Note: This story takes place after the third Inuyasha film, "Castle Beyond the Looking Glass," (just after Episode 74 in the series), and after the end of the Buffy series. May contain spoilers for events that happen in the Buffy series finale, Inuyasha episodes 1-74, and the film. Some violence, some bad language and maybe a bit of sexual innuendo, but nothing beyond what you'd see/hear in an aired episode of Inuyasha. _

1. Every Lock Has a Key 

_Feudal Japan, Warring States Era_

"Naraku-sama, it is said you are the most powerful youkai in Japan. I, Arashthoth the Gatekeeper, humbly beg your assistance in a matter of great importance," said the demon kneeling on the floor of Naraku's audience chamber. 

_A foreigner youkai, by his accent_. _Has my fame already spread beyond Japan's shores?_ From his place on a low dais, Naraku frowned slightly, and adjusted the flowing sleeves of his elaborate kimono. 

The supplicant bowed low, both hands properly placed on the floor before him. A long, hooded robe the color of dusty earth concealed every feature save for two glowing red eyes.

It was not that Naraku objected to the request for a favor. It was the fact that he had a visitor at all. Naraku did not approve of visitors.  

The barrier around Naraku's castle was a powerful one, that concealed the castle's existence to all but those who already knew where it lay. And in the unlikely instance that any human might penetrate the barrier, the ground within the barrier was covered with a poisonous purple miasma that roiled and billowed over the raked gravel of the walkways and courtyard. So how in the seven hells had this Arashthoth found him, and managed to enter undetected? 

_Kill him!_ urged some of the lesser youkai that Naraku had recently absorbed. _Kill him and take his strength as you took ours!_ They squirmed impatiently and Naraku reined them in. 

_Perhaps later_. He was the master here, and he would tolerate no dissent in the unified body he had created from hundreds of his fellow monsters. 

"I am not in the habit of dispensing largesse," Naraku said to Arashthoth, in the coldest tone he could summon. "Nor do I seek vassals."

"If you would condescend to make an exception in my case, as a sign of my gratitude I would offer you a talisman of great beauty--and great power," said Arashthoth, undeterred. 

"Great power?" Naraku asked, his tone disinterested. He already possessed four-fifths of the Shikon-no-Tama, the fabled Jewel of Four Souls. What could a foreign youkai possibly offer him that might be of interest?

"Yes, yes," said Arashthoth, eagerly. "I offer you the use of a Portal Key!"

Naraku remained silent, unwilling to admit ignorance of such a thing. In any case, a key did not sound like a very impressive gift. 

After a long moment, Arashthoth had the temerity to sigh. 

Arashthoth bowed again, the sleeves of his loose robes billowing. A faint, dry scent, like medicinal herbs on the verge of crumbling into dust, reached Naraku's nose as his visitor's forehead touched the woven tatami mats that covered the floor. 

"It permits the bearer to travel freely to the other demon dimensions," Arashthoth said. "Or within this dimension, across any distance--or any time."

"That is...interesting," conceded Naraku. 

More than interesting, actually, though he did not permit his expression to change. 

In addition to gifting him with the largest shard of the shattered Shikon-no-Tama some months ago, the treacherous undead miko Kikyo had given him one priceless piece of information about his chief opponent.

_The girl who holds the largest portion of my reborn soul is unbound by time's constraints_, Kikyo had told him in her deceptively sweet voice. _Kagome travels in this realm, seeking to recover the pieces of the jewel, but she dwells elsewhere. Even her friends cannot accompany her there. Find Kagome's true home, and you will find her alone and without her protectors_.

"I will accept your gift," said Naraku. If Arashthoth spoke true, then the portal through the Well of Dry Bones might open for him, as it had failed to do on other occasions. 

"Thank you, Naraku-sama!" Arashthoth reached into the breast of his robes, and withdrew a fist-sized sphere crafted from dully-gleaming bronze. He placed it on the tatami just in front of his knees. 

The object was engraved with a sinuous pattern that seemed to writhe as Naraku studied it, and studded with polished, thumbnail-sized topazes. A silent howl of despair echoed in his consciousness as his restive youkai components comprehended that he did not intend to immediately dispose of the intruder.

_Quiet!_ Naraku commanded them as he shifted slightly on his dais. This lot was proving more difficult than the others to fully absorb. It was taking more effort than usual to maintain his outward appearance of a handsome young nobleman. 

"And what is it that you wish of me?" Naraku asked, when he had tired of studying the strange sphere.

"I want...her!" Arashthoth pointed to Naraku's right, a warty, yellow-nailed finger extending beyond the hem of his wide sleeve. "Just for a short while." Arashthoth smiled, revealing crooked brown teeth. It was a singularly unpleasant expression.

Naraku felt rather than heard Kagura's suppressed gasp just behind his shoulder. "And what would you do with my daughter?" 

Suddenly remembering his manners, Arashthoth lowered his head, once more concealing his features within his dust-colored cowl. "I have heard that Kagura-sama commands the winds."

"That is so." Naraku inclined his head a little. _Very interesting_...

"I need her to conjure a storm for me, a divine wind such as my dimension has never known."

"And how do I know that you will return her?" Naraku asked, gently. "She is useful to me, and I would regret losing her, even in return for this portal key."

Behind him, Kagura's outrage smoldered like coals at the prospect of being traded away like a piece of merchandise. But she knew better than to protest. Naraku smiled slightly. She had not forgotten what he done to her the last time she tried to disobey him. 

"You have my word--the word of a Gatekeeper--that I shall not keep the Lady Kagura for long!" Arashthoth forgot etiquette and raised his head to stare rudely at Naraku. The dim, bruised light of the audience chamber fell on the features within the hood, revealing a face composed of scabrous lumps. "And if nothing else, I must return to reclaim my loan of the Portal Key."

A _loan_? What insolence was this? This demon had invaded his castle, requested Naraku's most precious possession, and had the temerity to offer not a gift but a _loan_? 

Naraku made his decision. He opened the front of his kimono, letting the lower half of his body dissolve into youkai form. He heard the eager clamor of his legion as they surged forward across the tatami. 

The Gatekeeper screamed, but it was too late--the thick pseudopods of Naraku's essence already held him captive, flowing rapidly up and around the long hooded robe. In a few seconds, he was completely surrounded. Naraku felt him struggle weakly against his fate for a few moments longer, then a new consciousness joined the multitude of others in Naraku's being.

_Where am I? What have you done to me?_ came the Gatekeeper's terrified thought._ Why is it so dark here? _

Naraku calmly closed the neck of his kimono and retied the sash. Then he looked back at Kagura, who had not moved from her position kneeling behind his cushion on the dais. She was dressed like a noblewoman with her layered kimono, elaborately upswept hair, and thick coating of rice-powder on her face, but her gleaming scarlet eyes and pointed ears betrayed her youkai nature. 

"Fool! To think that I would trade away any of my possessions for a bauble," Naraku said. 

Kagura's eyelids flickered slightly at the word possession, but he chose not to notice. He leaned forward, and hefted Arashthoth's bronze sphere in his hand. It was warm, and seemed to hum slightly. 

_And now_, he addressed the demon he had just absorbed. _You will tell me how to use this_...


	2. If This Is Tuesday, It Must Be Tokyo

1 1. If This is Tuesday, It Must Be Tokyo

_I'm not going to check my voicemail until tomorrow_, thought Buffy, as she staggered off the airplane at Narita Airport. _I should have known better than to give anyone from the newly-revived Watcher's Council my number. What part of "I'm on vacation" don't they understand?_

In the six months since she had embarked on her post-Sunnydale around-the-world tour, the Council had interpreted _for emergencies only_ as an invitation to have her look in on each newly-activated Slayer in the countries she'd been backpacking through. 

Still, Buffy was relishing her first taste of freedom as a regular girl. Or, if not exactly regular (because her Slayer powers had not disappeared when Willow's spell raised each of the surviving Potential Slayers to full Slayer status) at least not the _only_ Slayer. 

It had been a real drag, sometimes, not being able to take a vacation because an apocalypse might happen anytime, anywhere. 

Now, Sunnydale lay in ruins behind her, the First Evil had been defeated--for now--and, best of all, her little sister Dawn was staying with Dad in LA. 

Buffy was finally free. And she was definitely not going to look at her voicemail until she'd at least done a little sightseeing in Tokyo. After spending the summer touring Europe, she had continued eastward on an around-the-world ticket. She'd spend two weeks in Japan, and then Australia was next...sun, beach, and surf. And hot guys who sounded like Russell Crowe. 

But maybe Will had called her...and wasn't Xander supposed to be meeting up with her in Sydney? 

She reached the line for Customs and passport control, and lowered her backpack to the floor. It was going to be a long wait--another 747 had deplaned just ahead of her flight, and the large hall was packed with jet-lagged travelers. 

She began to reach for the small zippered pocket in her backpack that held her phone, but caught herself just in time. _No_. _If there's a message, it'll just be from some dork on the Watcher's Council_. _And I want to do some shopping, first_...

Instead of her phone, she pulled out her Lonely Planet guide to Japan, and began flipping through the pages. She paused at the Useful Phrases section..."Osaka hoteru made onegai shimasu." she murmured to herself. _Please take me to the Hotel Osaka_.

No mystical chants, demon invocations, or even slang Sumerian. Just plain old Japanese, useful for taxis and buses and other forms of transportation. _It's nice to be a just a regular old tourist_. Smiling to herself, Buffy continued scanning the guide's pages, while keeping one eye on the people in line ahead of her. 

oo0oo

Buffy's good mood lasted until she emerged from the Customs area into the Arrivals Hall. She spotted him right away--_jeez, are all Watchers required to wear tweed? It's like some bizarre dress code!_--but it was too late. She'd been seen. 

He actually began to run in her direction. Not a good sign. _Uh-oh. Godzilla must be attacking, or something_. 

"Miss Summers!" He was Japanese, and, like most of the Watchers these days, he was young--maybe three or four years older than her. The Council had been recruiting heavily at the universities in an attempt to replace the members lost in last year's bombing at their London HQ.

"Miss Summers." He came to a halt in front of her, panting a little from his dash across the airport concourse. He stuck out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you." 

Buffy sighed, and dropped her backpack to the gleaming linoleum. She didn't want to be rude--he really _was_ sort of cute in a geeky, graduate-student kind of way. 

"Hi," she said, summoning a smile. God, she wanted a shower in the worst way after all those hours on the plane! "You're a Watcher, I presume?" 

"Koji Minamide, at your service." She shook his hand and he gave her an abbreviated bow over their joined hands.

"Buffy Summers--but you already knew that."

He unbent enough to give her a smile. _Yeah, definitely a cutie. And tall, too_. 

"I'm very sorry to interrupt your holiday, but we have a bit of an emergency. Please come this way--I have a car waiting." He made a move to pick up her backpack, but she hooked the strap, and swung it back over her shoulder.

"It's pretty heavy," she explained. "So, what's the emergency? Giant radioactive monster destroying downtown?"

He laughed, which was really un-Watcher-like of him. _Guess they didn't have a chance to give him the full indoctrination and remove his sense of humor_. 

Then, as they began walking to the exit, Minamide turned serious. "Actually, there's a demon infestation at the Higurashi Shrine in the outskirts of the city." 

"And no Slayers in the area?" As soon as she asked, Buffy guessed the answer. 

Koji's face fell. "There were a number of Potentials here...at one time...but..."

"But the Bringers killed them last year," Buffy finished for him. "I'm sorry. They killed a lot of girls...a lot of Potential Slayers." She sighed, remembering the long, bitter months of battling the First Evil. "Okay, so what kind of demons am I going to be dealing with here?"

Buffy hoped that Koji had weapons, because she had been forced to leave all of hers behind in California. Airport security and all that...how could you explain the need for a sword or an axe in your luggage these days? 

"Different kinds." He grimaced. "All native to Japan, but not usually found in close proximity to one another."

They reached the sliding glass doors, and emerged into the smoggy sunlight of an autumn afternoon. A white Toyota sedan pulled up to the curb, and popped the trunk. 

As Buffy slid her backpack in and closed the lid, Koji continued: "We've had some problems there before--including a monster that destroyed several firetrucks and killed a number of firefighters and police officers last year--but the family who owns the shrine has been able to, ah, deal with problems as they've arisen. This time, however, it's not just one or two demons. It's dozens so far, and they keep coming."

"Sounds like a portal may have opened somewhere," Buffy observed as she followed Koji around the car and got into the backseat. 

"That would be my guess, also," Koji said, from the front passenger seat. "If you wouldn't mind taking a look around for a Hell-gate while you're, er, fighting, we would very much appreciate it."

He said something in Japanese to the driver, a middle-aged man with a gold tooth. 

"It is very nice to meet you, Miss Summers," said the driver in heavily accented English, nodding stiffly to her. 

"Likewise," Buffy said, as they pulled away from the curb, and merged into fairly heavy traffic. "Say, Koji, your English is really good. Did you go to school in America?" 

"Thank you, but I went to university in Australia--Sydney Uni." 

Buffy smiled. "Hey, I'm headed to Sydney next. Maybe you can give me some pointers after I'm finished with the demon extermination?"

"It would be my pleasure." _Good, he smiled again_. He was definitely growing on her...if only he'd lose the tweed jacket. "Now, it will take us about an hour to reach the shrine. What do you need to know before you go into battle?"

Buffy ticked off points on her fingers. "Any weak spots on the demons. What kind of weapons I'll be using. Whether the shrine family knows about Slayers. Oh, and what are Slayers and demons in Japanese? My phrase book is okay for stuff like shopping and ordering a meal, but it sucks when it comes to dealing with the supernatural."

Koji turned around to address her, resting his forearm on the back of his seat. "I'll answer your last question first. Demons are called 'youkai,' and demon-slayers are 'youkai-taijya.' I've heard legends that there used to be an entire village somewhere in the mountains that specialized in youkai-taijya..."


	3. Osuwari and Other Useful Phrases For the...

2 2. 'Osuwari!' and Other Useful Phrases For the Traveling Vampire Slayer

_Tokyo, the present day_

Sooner or later, one of the demons would get past her, get past Inuyasha, and make it as far as the house...or worse, escape into the unsuspecting suburbs that pushed up against the base of Higurashi Shrine Hill. 

_I can't allow that to happen!_ Kagome Higurashi flashed on a brief image of the horrors that even a small spider youkai could wreak on her unsuspecting neighbors. 

She stood in the middle of the shrine's central courtyard, all her attention focused on the shattered remains of the small well-house. Reaching over her shoulder, she drew the next arrow from the quiver on her back. 

_Draw. Aim. Release._Only two arrows left, and inside the crazily-leaning structure of ruined planking and sagging beams, she saw that the Bone-Eater's Well was glowing again, a blue light whose purity seemed at odds with the monsters it spewed forth. 

The next wave of youkai was coming. And she would be unarmed soon.

Inuyasha had planted the blade of his sword in the dirt, taking advantage of the brief respite between waves of incoming youkai. He sank to his knees, shoulders heaving under his heavy mane of silver hair. Kagome could hear how his harsh and ragged his breathing sounded as he gulped great lungfuls of air. 

"Inuyasha," she said, quietly. "Incoming."

"Keh," he spat, but it was drained of his usual vehemence. If nothing else, that told her how dangerously exhausted he was. He staggered to his feet, pulled the narrow, battered blade of Tetsusaiga from the soil, and raised it. 

With a blinding flash, the sword transformed, growing larger, shimmering scarlet and gold with demon energies.

He was the front line of defense against the invaders. She was the second line, finishing off anything he wounded--or anything that managed to slip past him. 

She fitted her second-to-last arrow to the bow, her fingers blistered and bleeding. Her arms and shoulders were burning with fatigue, her fingers cramped and shaking. But she wouldn't--couldn't--give in to the strain. 

_Draw. Aim. Release. _

_Don't think about what's going to happen when you use your last arrow._

oo0oo

It had been a little after noon when the horror started. Her midterms had finished yesterday, and right on schedule, Inuyasha had emerged from the well to fetch Kagome for another expedition to the Warring States Era. 

Mama, Grandpa, her little brother Souta, Inuyasha, and Kagome had just seated themselves at the table for one of Mama's delicious pre-departure luncheons when sound of the splintering well-house doors had caught their attention.

"Youkai? Here? Shit!" In a flash, Inuyasha had gracefully leapt over the table, and drawn his sword. 

He was out of the kitchen in an instant, his bare feet pounding a staccato beat against the polished wooden floorboards, leaving Grandpa, Mama, and Souta gaping in astonishment.

Kagome, inured by months of traveling in his company, hadn't hesitated. Pausing only to grab her bow and quiver from the pile of her traveling gear in the living room, she ran after Inuyasha.

"Kagome! Be careful, dear!" Her mother's voice followed her out of the house. 

As Kagome ran after the red flash of Inuyasha's robes, she had heard Souta complaining, "Awww, Mama! But I don't wanna stay here. I wanna help--"

Then she hadn't had time to think, hadn't had time to do anything but follow Inuyasha's urgent orders as the first of a stream of hideous insect youkai emerged from the well-house.

oo0oo

_Draw. Aim. Release_. How long had she and Inuyasha been battling this unending stream of invaders? Hours, though it felt like an eternity of days. 

Kagome had thought her family safe from the often-frightening world of demons and bloodthirsty samurai in feudal Japan. Because until today, only Kagome and Inuyasha and a single centipede youkai had been able to travel through time using the Bone-Eater's Well. 

How had these youkai managed to find them? And why were they so determined to come here?

The autumn sun was low on the horizon now, the pale gold of midday darkened to burnt orange. The shrine's grounds were littered with countless youkai corpses--mostly insect youkai, for they were the most dangerous kind, mindless and ravenous. 

_And the easiest for an enemy to control_, thought Kagome. Insect youkai would not stop to question orders, nor were they moved by reason or compassion. 

Souta suddenly spoke up behind her: "Wow, sis! You're really good with that bow! And Inu-no-nii-chan is amazing with his sword!"

"Souta! What are you doing here?" Kagome tore her eyes away from the eerily glowing well. "It's dangerous. Get back in the house!" 

"But, sis--" His jaw set, stubbornly.

She hastily added: "You have to protect Mama and Grandpa!"

"Onee-chan, I got these from the dead bugs! I thought you might need them." He grinned up at her, and she felt her heart expand with sisterly pride as he offered the dozen or so stained arrows clutched in his hands. He was so brave!

"Thank you, Souta!" She took the arrows and dumped them in her quiver._ Saved!_ She felt a fresh burst of strength. "Now, go!"

She saw two demons come scuttling rapidly out of the well-house. 

Apparently too exhausted to invoke the power of his sword with Kaze-no-Kizu, Inuyasha slashed at the nearest demon, a centipede youkai. 

His first swing took off a couple of legs and peeled off one of the youkai's armored back-plates, but the injury barely stopped the insect's advance. 

Souta, who had taken a step or two in the direction of the house, stopped to stare, his mouth open. 

Inuyasha swore, and swung again. This time, his sword merely bounced off the centipede's back. 

The other youkai, a serpent with gleaming green and copper scales, made a beeline for Kagome. 

She shoved Souta out of the way with desperate haste. "RUN!" 

Fumbling a little, she turned to fit an arrow to her bow. 

But it was too late. The serpent, its eyes glowing like bloodthirsty jewels, was directly in front of her, and rearing to strike. Its neck flattened and fanned like a cobra's hood. 

For an endless, frozen moment, the snake demon towered over her. With strange clarity, Kagome saw the droplets of clear venom beading the youkai's curved fangs.

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha screamed hoarsely. 

But she knew he couldn't reach her in time, not with the centipede still putting up a struggle. 

_Inuyasha_, she thought. _At least I got to kiss you, once_. 

Then the fangs were suddenly gone. Kagome gaped, unable to comprehend her sudden reprieve. 

_What? How?_

A spray of blood pulsed from a stump where the snake's head had been a moment ago. Then it crumpled, falling into two pieces that hit the ground in front of her with a meaty thud.

And Kagome came face-to-face with a stranger, a blonde girl wielding a curved blade mounted at the end of a staff. 

oo0oo

Panting a little from her run up the steep stairs leading to the shrine, Buffy passed under the tall red gate, and paused to assess the situation. 

The acrid smell of dead demons assaulted her nose. There were pieces of them scattered everywhere--legs and thoraxes and antennae. And head with faceted eyes, mercifully dulled now. _Ugh. Koji didn't tell me they were giant bugs. _

A shout and movements halfway across the shrine's courtyard caught her attention. There were people fighting there--a teen-aged girl with a bow, a little boy with an armful of arrows, and a teen-aged boy, all in red, dressed in an old-fashioned Japanese kimono and puffy pants. He had a really big sword, which he was using to chop yet another bug into pieces. 

_He seems really strong_, thought Buffy, _but there's something kind of weird about him--besides his long silver hair_. 

But she had a more pressing problem right now--the girl with the bow didn't seem to register that a giant snake was headed her way. 

_Wonder if he's a relative of the late Sunnydale mayor_? thought Buffy, sprinting. _Bugs and snakes. Yuck._ She clutched the naginata that Koji Minamide had given her, holding it away from her body so she wouldn't trip over it. 

"Hey!" she shouted, but neither the girl nor the little kid seemed to hear her. 

She reached them just as the snake prepared to strike. 

"Oh, no, you don't!" She swung her weapon, pleased to note that it sliced through snake-meat like butter. 

"Kagome!" 

From the corner of her eyes, Buffy saw the silver-haired boy drop his sword and rush toward them. Behind him, a giant centipede lay in six more-or-less equal chunks. Some of the legs were still twitching feebly.

"Kagome!" he shouted again, followed by a stream of Japanese that Buffy didn't understand.

What she _did_ understand, suddenly, is that this kid had fangs and long, bloodied claws. 

_Another demon! _She leaped between the girl and the--the--_what the hell IS he?_--noticing as she did so that he had two incongruously cute pointed ears at the top of his head. 

He snarled, and swiped at her with his claws. His wide, red sleeves belled out like a matador's prop. Using her Slayer reflexes, Buffy jumped over him, somersaulting in mid-air to avoid the blow. 

He spun around to face her again, his arm raised, fingers crooked, blood-stained claws black in the twilight. His mouth twisted, and he said something to her. She didn't need a translation--his nasty tone was enough.

_He's actually growling at me! And jeez...look at those teeth. Nearly as long as a vampire's fangs. This demon is bad news. _

Then Buffy heard the girl shout, "Osuwari!" 

The boy's necklace flashed an instant before an invisible hand stopped his forward motion and flung him face-down into the gravel of the temple courtyard. He sprawled there in a tangle of waist-length silver hair, still growling. 

The girl staggered forward, and came to stand beside Buffy. She looked utterly exhausted.

"Inuyasha," she said, in a tone of reprimand. _Was that his name_?

He glanced up at the girl with a hurt expression. 

She said something else, and he turned his face away with an exclamation that sounded like, "Keh!"

_Why, he looks just like a puppy someone hit with a rolled-up newspaper_, thought Buffy. 

Suddenly, the demon boy seemed a lot less threatening.

Then the girl turned to Buffy. She looked maybe fifteen or sixteen, and was wearing a green-and-white sailor blouse with a matching pleated miniskirt. 

"Good afternoon, miss," she said, softly, in heavily-accented English. "My name is Higurashi Kagome. It is very nice to meet you." 

oo0oo

The spell wore off, and Inuyasha slowly got to his feet and staggered forward, snarling. "Kagome! Why the hell did you--" 

Only to meet the blonde girl's blade sweeping around to rest against his jugular. 

"Youkai?" demanded the stranger. She was fast, and very strong. In fact, she reminded Kagome a lot of her friend Sango. Especially that determined look.

"No!" Kagome said, desperately trying to remember her English. She had missed so many classes this year..."No! Friend!" 

She lunged for the shaft of the naginata, and clutched it. "No, please!"

The girl slowly lowered the weapon, but her gaze never left Inuyasha. "Friend? Are you sure?"

"Hai--yes!" 

He _did_ look rather dangerous, admitted Kagome to herself. Inuyasha was spattered with insect ichor and other noisome substances, bleeding himself from a number of wounds, his red robes torn, his silver hair disheveled. And he was grimacing, which showed off his inhuman fangs quite nicely. 

"Who is she? _What_ the hell is she?" demanded Inuyasha. His gaze flicked sideways, keeping a vigilant eye on the well-house. "I've never seen a human woman with yellow hair before."

"Watashi no namae wa Buffy Summers desu," said the girl, her Japanese sounding rehearsed, hesitant. "I am a--a--" she frowned, as if trying to recall something. "Youkai taijya."

"Shit. I knew it!" said Inuyasha, but he looked nearly as relieved as Kagome felt. 

"My friend's name is Inuyasha." Kagome struggled to remember the right English words through the haze of fatigue. "Thank you for helping us, Miss Summers."

"Don't worry about it. And I'm really sorry I tried to kill your friend." Buffy dug in the back pocket of her jeans, and produced a small Japanese phrase book. "But this book isn't much help for asking, 'Hey, are you a good demon or an evil demon?'" 


	4. Signed, Sealed, and Stranded

3 3. Signed, Sealed, and Stranded

_Tokyo, the present day_

Kagome dared to hope that the demon infestation had finally ended when the American girl turned up, but luck was not on her side. 

At least she and Inuyasha had reinforcement for killing the next three youkai who crawled, slithered, and scuttled out of the Bone-eater's Well. 

Buffy-san, holding her deadly naginata, moved to the forefront when the next invader, a preying mantis youkai, emerged. 

_Just call me Buffy_, she had said, in her casual American way, when Kagome tried to address her as Summers-san, so Kagome had compromised on using her first name. That way, she was less formal--after all, Buffy-san was perhaps five or six years older than Kagome--but still being polite.

Kagome hoped that Inuyasha would take the opportunity to rest a little and regain his strength, but, scowling, he deliberately moved in front of Buffy-san to take his place nearest to the well. 

Kagome sighed. _Silly hanyou boy, to worry about losing face in front of a youkai-taijya at a time like this!_ Still, Inuyasha was Inuyasha, and she knew it would be useless to try and argue with him. 

For the hundredth time that afternoon, she drew an arrow from her quiver and nocked it. Everything hurt--her bleeding fingers, her wrists, her elbows, her shoulders, her neck, her feet. How long would the youkai invasion continue? Would she still be here at midnight? Would she even be able to lift her bow, much less bend it, by then? 

_Do your best!_ she thought to herself, fiercely. _Everyone's counting on you._

By the time the maggot-youkai emerged, pale and fat, but with a round mouth ringed by dozens of translucent teeth, Buffy-san and Inuyasha were fighting together as smoothly as paired dancers despite their enmity. Neither of them gave the youkai a respite from an attack on both side, and it was only a minute before it lay, gashed and pulsing, deflating slightly as clear ichor escaped from the deep gashes along the length of its body. 

The smell was indescribable, like garbage fermenting under a hot summer sun, but a hundred times worse. 

Kagome covered her nose, gagging a little, and Inuyasha was looking distinctly green and glaze-eyed as the stink assaulted his sensitive nose. 

"Inuyasha!" Kagome stepped forward, ready to catch him if he passed out from the stench. 

He waved her away, then whirled around, and stared in the direction of the torii that marked the entrance to the shrine. Someone was coming! 

He vanished abruptly, bounding away in a blur of scarlet. Probably taking refuge in one of the sheds, thought Kagome. She felt sorry for him, always having to hide his hanyou nature, but it was safer this way.

A few moments later, Grandpa's scholar friend Minamide Koji came into view, puffing from the steep stairs, and dragging a large, wheeled suitcase behind him. 

He caught sight of them and waved. "Good evening!" he called. "Kagome-chan, is your grandfather at home?"

"Good evening, Minamide-sensei!" answered Kagome. "Yes, he's here. Thank you for sending Buffy-san. We've just been--" 

Minamide-sensei stopped and blinked as the stench from the maggot youkai hit him, then looked around slowly, as if only now noticing the carnage in the shrine precinct. "This is terrible, much worse that I'd feared!" 

He turned to Buffy and asked her, in English: "Are you all right, Miss Summers?"

"Fine," Buffy-san answered. 

She looked around, obviously puzzled by Inuyasha's sudden disappearance, but to Kagome's relief, she didn't say anything. 

Then Grandpa emerged from the house, shouting greetings, and he and Minamide-sensei held a long consultation. Luckily, no youkai emerged from the well during this time, though Buffy kept her weapon at the ready, scanning the well-house with wary intensity. 

Finally, Grandpa looked over to Kagome. "Kagome-chan, our visitor has kindly brought some extra-powerful charms with which to seal the well. He and I are going to do it now, so why don't you fetch Inuyasha from wherever he's hiding, and go inside for dinner? I expect you must all be starving by now," he added with a small smile. He bowed in Buffy's direction, and said in his measured English: "Thank you very much for your help, Miss Summers."

She blinked, and returned the bow, a little awkwardly. "You're very welcome, Mr. Higurashi."

Kagome walked over to the nearest storehouse, and called out, "Inuyasha! Dinner!" 

She felt relieved that Minamide-sensei would be helping to seal the well. She loved her Grandpa very much, but his track record with wielding mystical powers was a bit spotty. In fact, when she first met Inuyasha, he had broken through Grandpa's magical seals with no difficulty. 

Those seals hadn't stopped that Centipede Woman, either, Kagome remembered with a tiny internal shudder.

Inuyasha appeared in front of her, and she jumped a little. He moved so quietly! 

"It's safe to be seen?" he murmured, his strange golden eyes luminous in the deep shadow of the storehouse wall.

She nodded. "Minamide-sensei is the one who sent Buffy-san to help us." 

"Eh, we were doing just fine against those wimpy youkai," Inuyasha said, rolling his eyes. Kagome pressed her blistered fingertips against her palms, but didn't bother to argue with him.

He followed her back out to the courtyard, where she performed the introductions. 

Minamide-sensei was clearly fascinated by Inuyasha, and actually walked completely around him, looking at him from all angles. Inuyasha put on his aloof expression, tucked his hands into his sleeves, and bore the inspection with uncharacteristic sufferance.

Finally, he stepped away. "What happened to dinner?" he demanded of Kagome. "And is _she_ going to stand guard in case more youkai come while we're eating?"

Buffy looked at them, puzzled, clearly understanding the word "youkai" but little or nothing else.

Grandpa stepped forward, clearing his throat. "That will not be a problem," he declared proudly. "With Minamide-sensei's assistance, I sealed the well."

"Keh!" said Inuyasha, rudely. "I hope you didn't use the same crappy spells as last time. They didn't work at all."

"I believe these ones will hold," interjected Minamide-sensei. "But it's only a temporary solution, I fear."

"Do you think Naraku will find a way to break the seals?" Kagome asked. Her stomach twisted in fear. She had seen the terrible damage inflicted by rampaging youkai upon the hapless villlages of feudal Japan. What if Mama got hurt? Or Souta?

"It's only a matter of time, I'm afraid," admitted Minamide-sensei. 

Inuyasha snorted. "Well, we'd better get started on dinner, then. And eat fast."

Kagome saw that Buffy-san looked a little lost, clearly unable to understand what was being discussed. She smiled. "We shall be having dinner soon, Buffy-san," she said, in English.

"There's one more thing," said Grandpa, as they all began to walk back to the house. "As long as those seals are in place, you and Inuyasha are trapped on this side of the well." 

Kagome shared a dismayed look with Inuyasha. What would happen if they were unable to return to the Feudal Era to continue their search for the fragments of the Shikon-no-Tama? 

Had that been Naraku's aim all along, to strand them in modern-day Tokyo? 


	5. Dinner with the Dog Boy

4 4. Dinner with the Dog Boy

_Tokyo, the present day_

As she followed Koji and the others to the house, Buffy noticed that both Kagome and Inuyasha were looking awfully glum. She remembered the looks they traded after the last thing old Mr. Higurashi said, and as she plodded after them now, she really wished she spoke Japanese. It was getting really old having to ask everyone to translate for her.

Once inside the front door, she found herself in a little antechamber. There, she followed the others' lead and took off her shoes. While she was unzipping her boots, the kid she'd seen earlier--_Kagome's little brother?_--came dashing up with a handful of paper towels. 

He offered them to Inuyasha first, who took them with a grunt and started to methodically wipe down the rusted, battered blade of his sword. Little bro handed Buffy the remaining towels, and she used them to clean up the naginata as best she could. 

It was a really nice weapon, she thought, examining it closely--well-balanced, wickedly sharp blade, and it extended her reach farther than a sword would have. 

When she had finished, she propped the naginata in one corner of the antechamber, next to Kagome's bow and quiver. 

Kagome took the stained paper towels from her, and picked up a pair of slippers from a neatly-aligned row of shoes, handing them to Buffy with a shy smile. Buffy remembered what she'd read about etiquette in her Lonely Planet guide, and attempted a bow in return.

Buffy figured that she looked like a total dork doing it, but Kagome was too polite to laugh at her

Inuyasha, who had been barefoot to begin with, had already vanished inside the house. He had taken his sword with him. 

_What? He really thinks someone's gonna steal that piece of junk?_ Or maybe he was afraid that the seals wouldn't hold... Buffy eyed the naginata she had just put down, then decided not to take it into dinner with her. If anything else came out of the well, she could grab her weapon on her way out of the house. 

"Please, this way," Kagome said, taking a half-step up onto a polished wooden floor. 

Buffy caught the savory whiff of frying pork chops, and her stomach growled. Her airline breakfast felt like it had been consumed ages ago. Koji's driver hadn't stopped anywhere on the long drive from Narita Airport, so she'd missed lunch. Given the dire straits Kagome had been in by the time she arrived, that had probably been a smart decision, but she was _starving_.

She looked around curiously as she followed Kagome into the house. The Higurashi residence was a large one by Japanese standards, but very sparsely furnished. As Buffy passed the living room, she noticed a coffee table, a futon couch and a TV with a gaming console. Other than that, most of the furniture seemed to consist of floor cushions and low tables.

The smell of food grew stronger as they entered a large combination kitchen/dining room area. Everyone else was already seated around a large, Western-style dining table, which was set with gently-steaming bowls of rice, a platter of deep-fried boneless pork chops neatly sliced into segments, and several kinds of salads, some of them brightly-colored. It all looked delicious.

"Oh, tonkatsu!" Kagome said, happily, motioning Buffy to take the empty seat between Inuyasha and Koji. "You'll like it, Buffy-san."

"It looks wonderful," Buffy agreed, pulling out her chair. 

As soon as she sat down, Inuyasha grabbed for the platter of tonkatsu, only to be thwarted when Kagome slapped his hand away. He gave her a dirty look but subsided while Kagome introduced the rest of her family to Buffy. 

The boy sitting on Inuyasha's other side was named Souta, and he was indeed Kagome's kid brother. The nice-looking lady sitting across from them turned out to be Kagome's mom, Atsuko Higurashi. 

"I thank you for your help, Miss Summers," she said, in a gentle voice. She cast a worried glance at Kagome. "I was really frightened this afternoon." 

"Keh," Inuyasha said, reaching for the food again. This time, no one stopped him. As he pushed a large potion onto his plate, he added something else in what Buffy thought sounded like a really show-offy tone. 

Mrs. Higurashi gave him a fond smile, then jumped up, as if she'd suddenly remembered something. She hurried over to the fridge, pulled out a container, and set another plate down in front of Inuyasha. 

Buffy saw that the dish was piled high with coin-like slices of bright yellow pickle. Inuyasha's face brightened and he immediately began shoving them into his mouth using his fingers. He chewed noisily.

At least he had washed his hands! Though his hair still had leaf-fragments from taking a header into the ground and his kimono-thingy was just...gross, Buffy thought, spying bits of bug stuck to the woolly red fabric of his wide sleeves. 

Having served themselves, everyone chorused "Itadakimasu!" before digging in. 

Everyone except Inuyasha, that is, who had started eating the moment the food hit his plate.

Dinner was eaten in silence, which gave Buffy a chance to appreciate Mrs. Higurashi's excellent cooking. The tonkatsu was crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside, and the tangy sauce served on the side finished it off perfectly. The green salad had a creamy sesame dressing, and the other salads turned out to be made from various kinds of pickled veggies. They were cold, crunchy, and had a pleasant sweet-and-sour flavor.

Really, the only downside was having to sit next to Demon Boy. She tried to ignore Inuyasha's table manners--or, more precisely, his lack of them--because no one else at the table seemed to be paying attention, but it was hard. He had by-passed the chopsticks that were giving Buffy a hard time, and was simply picking up handfuls of food and shoving them into his mouth. 

Buffy gave him a sidelong glance as a particularly slippery piece of pickled cabbage slipped out of her hold for the third time, and wondered if she might be better off using her fingers, too. 

_No way_, she thought, as soon as the thought crossed her mind. _And have everyone think I was raised in a barn, like him?_ She realigned the skinny, lacquered chopsticks between her fingers and stabbed at the cabbage with renewed determination. 

The yellow pickles disappeared in record time. As soon as she noticed, Mrs. Higurashi rose and fetched more from the fridge, smiling the whole time. _She really likes him!_ Buffy thought, in amazement. _And not even a thank-you from that jerk!_

Once she'd finished eating, she looked over at Koji. He was staring at Inuyasha, too, but at her glance, he smiled and looked down at his plate. 

_Hey, he's got a dimple!_ she observed. This Watcher was definitely growing on her. And he had good taste in weapons.

"Did you know that the traditional guardian of this shrine is an inu-youkai, a dog-spirit?" he said, in a low voice. "Take a look at the guardian statues out front when you have a moment. You may see a resemblance to the fellow sitting next to you." 

Across the table, Grandpa Hirugashi perked up at the mention of "inu-youkai." He put down his chopsticks, and using Koji as a translator, he began telling Buffy all about the history of the shrine, including the guardian dog statues, the Jewel of Four Souls, and the Bone-eater's Well. 

Buffy nodded politely at each factoid. So, the shrine was eight hundred years old, very cool. Demon bones disappeared magically when thrown into the Bone-eater's Well...now that was interesting. More proof that that well was actually a trans-dimensional portal of some kind.

Her mind began to wander a little when Grandpa launched into a blow-by-blow of each building's history. As he rambled on about sacred trees and purification fountains, Kagome threw her a sympathetic look. But no came to Buffy's rescue--or poor Koji's-- until dinner was over and Mrs. Higurashi had cleared the plates from the table. 

oo0oo

Kagome helped Mama clear the table, and spent the next few minutes slicing oranges for dessert. Returning to the table with a platter of the fragrant fruit, she heard Minamide-sensei tell Buffy-san, "...and as soon as we get hold of a Portal Key of our own, I think you ought to try and locate the one the demons are using to come here. Mr. Higurashi tells me that his granddaughter regularly travels between the present day and the feudal era using the old well."

"So, why do we need a Portal Key?" Buffy-san asked, giving Kagome a quick smile as she took some of the proffered orange slices.

"Because it appears that only she and Inuyasha can travel through the Bone-eater's Well without a key." Minamide-sensei sighed. "We have to stop the youkai from coming through again. It was only the sheerest luck that Inuyasha was visiting here when the invasion started. Otherwise..." He gave an expressive shrug and began to repeat what he'd just said in Japanese for the benefit of everyone else at the table. 

"Eh, it's probably that bastard Naraku. He's always sending others to do his dirty work," Inuyasha said, carelessly.

Mama was still slicing up fruit in the kitchen, but Kagome saw how her knife abruptly stopped moving. She turned around, and Kagome cringed inside as she saw the horrified look on her mother's face. 

Dead silence reigned at the table. _Inuyasha, you moron!_ Hadn't she warned him _never_ to say anything about their more dangerous adventures in the Feudal Era to her family? But now the cat was out of the bag. 

"Kagome-chan," said her mother, in an odd, strained tone. "Have you met this...Naraku before?"

"Yes, Mama." Kagome forced out the words. Unable to meet her mother's gaze, she intently studied the platter of oranges that she still held.

"Has he tried to harm you? Sent demons to attack you?" 

"Yes, Mama." She thought furiously. "But not all demons in the Warring States Era are evil," she said, desperately. "For instance, there is Inuyasha. " _Who tried to kill me, the first time we met._ "And Shippou-chan..." _Well, the little kitsune didn't try to kill me, but thanks to him, the Thunder Brothers nearly turned me into a hair potion._ "And, um, Kouga-kun." _Who kidnapped me and considers me his woman now_. 

She devoutly hoped that her mother would never find out about _that_.

Inuyasha's scowl deepened at the mention of the wolf-prince, but mercifully, he kept his big mouth shut. 

"It's really not too dangerous," Kagome continued, in the face of Mama's continued silence. What could she say to convince her? "And--and Inuyasha is always with me."

Mama gave a tiny nod, but Kagome's heart shriveled at the unspoken weight of her mother's anxiety. What if she forbade Kagome to travel through the well again? All the Shikon shards would find their way into the hands of evildoers. And she might never see any of her friends in the feudal era again! 

5. "When It Absolutely, Positively, Has To Be There Overnight"

_Tokyo, the present day_

After dinner, the group dispersed. Koji and Grandpa Higurashi went out for a walk. Souta grabbed Inuyasha by the sleeve and practically dragged him into the living room. Buffy heard the TV turn on, followed by the familiar sounds of a video game. 

Kagome and her mom shooed Buffy out of the kitchen when she tried to help with the dishes, so she took the opportunity to sit on the bottom step of the staircase, pull her cellphone out of her purse, and dial Giles's number in England. 

"Yes?" A woman answered the phone in a husky voice that sounded like British-flavored caramel, and with a guilty start, Buffy realized that it was probably 4am in London. 

"Hi, Olivia," she said quickly. "I am _so_ sorry to call you at oh-dark-thirty, but I'm in Tokyo and something urgent has come up. Can I speak with Giles, please?"

"Slayer business?" Olivia yawned. "Just a moment." 

A second later, Giles was on the phone, sounding just as groggy as his girlfriend. "Yes, Buffy?"

Buffy repeated her apology for waking him up, then gave Giles the _TV Guide_ version of what had happened that afternoon. She finished with: "...and now it looks like Koji wants me to time-travel back to medieval Japan ASAP with the dog-demon-guy, and I just know my phrasebook is going to be even more useless than it is now!" 

Giles laughed, sounding a little more awake now. "I wish I was coming with you, Buffy," he said, sounding like he really meant it. Knowing Giles, he probably _did_ mean it. "In any case, I know of a Portal Key in Cambridge. I'll Fed-Ex it to you first thing in the morning. And I should probably include a language-induction charm as well, so that you will be able to understand the natives once you arrive at your destination."

"You mean I'll be able to speak Japanese? Hallelujah!" said Buffy. She had been worrying about that part of her planned mission. "Why didn't I get one of those before I hopped on the plane?"

"Because," answered Giles, in his usual dry tone. "They are rather...uncomfortable...to apply, and should only be used in the most urgent instances."

"Giles, you're the very best Watcher, ever!" said Buffy, fondly. "Though I have to tell you, that Koji is pretty hot. For a Watcher, I mean." 

"Thank you, I really needed to know _that_," Giles said, but Buffy could tell he was smiling on the other end of the line. "Now, if there's nothing else...?"

"Nope. Sorry to wake you. Bye!"

"Take care, Buffy."

Koji and Grandpa Higurashi returned shortly, breathing heavily. They were lugging Buffy's large backpack between them, which they leaned against the side of the staircase. 

At Buffy's puzzled look, Koji said, "The Higurashi family would very much like to have you as their guest. Would you mind changing your plans, and stay here for a few days instead of at the Hotel Osaka?"

"Sure," replied Buffy. "As long as I'm not imposing..."

"No, no worries." Koji turned to Grandpa Higurashi and spoke with him briefly.

"He insists that you are most welcome, and would you mind sharing Kagome's room?"

"Can you tell him I appreciate the offer? Uh, wait, I think I remember: Domo arigato, Higurashi-san." 

Grandpa gave her a big smile, then bowed and left her alone with Koji.

"Good. I would really rather not have to carry your backpack down the hill again tonight," said Koji. The dimple reappeared briefly. He added: "And I shall feel better knowing that you are close by if something else happens here." 

He handed her a slip of paper. "My home phone number and my mobile number. Please contact me as soon as Mr. Giles's package arrives." 

"Sure thing," Buffy said, tucking the paper into the front pocket of her purse. 

"Good night, then, Miss Summers." And with that, Koji departed, leaving Buffy on her own with the Higurashi family...and the dog boy. _Well, this is certainly going to be a lot more interesting than staying at the hotel_.

oo0oo

Filthy and jet-lagged, Buffy was ready to kiss Kagome's feet in gratitude when she offered to show Buffy how to take a hot bath, Japanese style. 

Buffy carried her backpack upstairs and put it in Kagome's room, which was furnished with a twin bed, a desk, and a chair. It was very...pink. Pink bedspread. Pink ruffled pillow. Pale pink rug. _Yep, definitely a very girly room_. 

She dug clean underwear and her pajamas out of her backpack, then followed the teen-ager across the landing to the bathroom. 

The bathroom looked very different from Buffy was used to. There was an alcove with a sink--"For undressing," said Kagome--and a tiled part, which had a shower and a deep tub. 

The tub was already filled and steaming gently. After eight hours on a plane, followed by a fight with giant bugs, the sight of soap and hot water made Buffy's toes curl in anticipation. 

Kagome explained that Buffy should wash herself and shampoo her hair using the shower before climbing into the tub to soak Then she left, leaving fluffy towels neatly folded on a low stool.

It was heavenly. Buffy stayed in the bath until her fingertips looked white and wrinkly, and the meat felt ready to fall off her bones. _I'll turn into Buffy-soup if I stay her any longer_, she thought, sleepily, gathering herself to stand up at last. _But it'll be very happy Buffy-soup._

Clean at last, her knees pleasantly rubbery and the rest of her feeling utterly relaxed, Buffy got dressed, then went to find Kagome. 

Inuyasha had already bedded down in the living room--though _bedded down_ was maybe the wrong way to describe it. He was sitting on the couch, knees drawn up, chin resting on his chest, and one clawed hand wrapped around his sword--which looked much smaller and rattier than Buffy remembered from this afternoon's battle. 

But he wasn't completely asleep despite his closed eyes: as the two girls tiptoed past, Buffy saw one doggy ear twitch, and realized that he was keeping watch in case Koji's seals didn't hold. 

_Maybe he isn't a complete jerk, after all. _

Kagome was carrying more towels and what looked like a dressing robe over one arm. She stopped at the entrance to the living room and said something to Inuyasha in a quiet voice, holding out the robe. 

He opened one golden eye, shook his head, and replied, pointing at the front door with his chin. Kagome didn't look happy at that. 

To Buffy's amusement, she marched over to the couch, dropped the robe down next to him, then stood over him, her hands on her hips. Reaching down, she plucked at one stained red sleeve, her nose wrinkling. She was still speaking, and Buffy caught her name. 

Inuyasha scowled in Buffy's direction, then heaved himself to his feet with a loud, long-suffering sigh. He snatched up the robe with a muttered "Keh!," and thrust his battered sword at Buffy, who took it. 

Then he marched to the bathroom, still muttering under his breath.

Kagome was smiling as she watched him stomp out of the room. 

"I hope it is okay," she said to Buffy. "To sit down and keep watch while Inuyasha is, ah, in the bath? Bathing?" she corrected herself. 

Buffy seated herself. "Not a problem. He's, um, pretty dedicated, isn't he?"

Kagome nodded. "Yes. He protects me very well in the Sengoku-jidai, the..." she frowned, obviously trying to think of the right word. "Warring States era." 

"Do you like it there?"

Kagome nodded. "It is a little strange, but I have many friends there. You will like them, I sincerely hope." She held up her hand, and ticked them off on her fingers: "Miroku-sama, Sango-chan, Kaede ba-chan, and," her smiled turned fond, "Shippo-chan. He is a baby kitsune...um, a fox youkai. Cute!"

"Is there really such a thing as a cute demon?" Buffy asked. She wondered whether Inuyasha had ever been cute, and thought, _Maybe._ _Too bad he grew up to be such a grouch._

The conversation faltered after that. Kagome began to putter around a bit, unplugging the Nintendo unit from the TV, straightening up here and there. 

Buffy stayed put on the couch, and felt herself fading. It had been a _long_ day. She was practically propping her eyelids open by the time a rather rosy-looking Inuyasha returned, clad in a Hawaiian-print dressing gown, his red clothes a bulky package tucked under one arm. His hair was hanging in damp strands down his back. 

Kagome firmly pulled the bundle of soiled clothing out of his grasp, and left the living room. Seeing that that Buffy was on the couch, Inuyasha plopped himself down on one of the floor cushions. 

An uncomfortable silence ensued as they studied each other from the corners of their eyes. Buffy reached into the pocket of her pajamas and pulled out the phrase book, but nothing seemed appropriate for starting a conversation with a sulky demon.

Buffy heard the sounds of a washing machine start up from the other side of the house. 

"I hope she uses cold water, or you might end up with a tiny, pink kimono-thingy," she said conversationally, even though she knew Inuyasha couldn't understand her. 

He gave her a puzzled look from those amazing golden eyes, and she attempted a smile. He quickly turned away, and stared silently out of the window at the dark courtyard until Kagome returned, carrying a blow-dryer and a comb. 

Seating herself next to Buffy, she asked Inuyasha something.

He didn't move for a long moment, then, almost reluctantly, he scooted around the low table, until his back was leaning against the couch between Kagome's knees. She gathered up the thick mass of his wet hair in one hand, letting it pile up on her lap, and gently tilted his head back.

His perpetual scowl relaxed a little as Kagome pulled the comb through his bangs and long forelocks. 

When she finished with the top and front of his head, he bent forward obligingly so that she could begin to comb out sections of his thick, butt-length mane. Her fingers brushed against his cheeks and neck as she gathered up handfuls of his wet hair, and Buffy saw the corners of Inuyasha's mouth curve upward whenever she touched him like that. 

His eyes began to droop as he rested his arms on the coffee table. Within minutes, he looked completely relaxed, his face buried in his crossed arms. Tenderness suffused Kagome's expression as she worked the comb through the thick mass of silver hair, and they both seemed to have completely forgotten Buffy's presence. 

_They're smitten,_ thought Buffy with a pang, remembering her own ill-fated bout of smit when she was Kagome's age. _Too bad she's so nice and he's such a jerk. He's really going to put her through the wringer. _Buffy knew this from bitter experience, being susceptible to the charms of a bad boy, herself. 

Speaking of which, she wondered how her two favorite bad boys were getting along--in her last phone call to Angel, from the Youth Hostel in Bangkok, he had mentioned in an extremely irritated tone that Spike was currently haunting the offices of Wolfram and Hart. 

She had been glad to hear that Spike wasn't...entirely...dead, but it was kind of weird to think of him as incorporeal. He had been the most physical person she had ever met.

Thinking of Spike made Buffy remember some of the less mentionable ways they had been physical, and she felt her face heat. She actually missed him, which felt kind of disloyal to Angel. Not that she and Angel were ever getting physical again, either. Buffy sighed._ I should warn Kagome about the whole getting-involved-with-demons thing._

Meanwhile, Kagome had finished combing out Inuyasha's hair. She picked up the blow-dryer and wielded it vigorously until his mane lay shining over his back and shoulders. 

Then, with a barely-suppressed giggle, she tickled Inuyasha's ears. They twitched once, twice, three times. Finally, he opened his eyes and growled something that Buffy mentally translated as "Hey, cut that out!" 

Kagome patted him firmly on the head, which made his scowl return, then stood up. Recognizing her cue, Buffy dropped his sword on the coffee table next to his elbow, and followed Kagome out of the living room. Inuyasha didn't move as they left, and Buffy glanced over her should to see that his eyes had closed again. 

"He is very tired," Kagome said, sliding the door shut behind her. 

"I think we all are. It was a tough day," said Buffy "How are your fingers doing?"

Kagome wiggled her fingertips, showing off the colorful Band-Aids wrapped around each fingertip. 

"They will heal soon," she said, as she opened a closet and dragged out a rolled-up futon, a pillow, and a folded quilt. A quick rummage through the closet shelves, and a set of sheets joined the rest of the bedding. 

They piled everything on the futon, then the two of them, carrying the rolled-up mattress between them, staggered upstairs to her bedroom. Unfolding the bed and making it up only took a few minutes. 

Then Buffy gratefully crawled under the quilt, and immediately fell into a deep sleep. 

oo0oo 

Buffy spent most of the following day hanging out at the shrine, waiting for Giles's package to arrive. Things seemed a little tense--Inuyasha plopped himself down in front of the well, obviously not trusting the strength of the seals, Kagome's mom kept looking at Kagome with a worried expression, and Kagome herself chewed nervously on her nails. 

The family struggled to make conversation with Buffy using their schoolbook English and Buffy struggled to make conversation with them using her phrase book. It was mostly a failure, but at least they all laughed a lot.

She even tried venturing out to the well around noontime, and using some of the phrases from the "Making Friends" chapter on Inuyasha. 

He seemed to be in a bad mood again. Buffy wondered if part of the huge chip on his shoulder was the fact that she had intervened in his self-appointed mission to protect Kagome. Or maybe he was just jealous about not being the center of attention--especially Kagome's attention. 

"Konnichi-wa," she ventured, dropping down to sit cross-legged next to him. 

He acted like he hadn't heard her. She noticed he was wearing his red kimono-thingy again today, but it was noticeably cleaner. 

_Dammit. I'm going to make him at least say hi to me._ She looked down at her book. "How are you today?" she asked, sounding out the Japanese syllables uncertainly. "Isn't the weather nice?"

He growled at her, and snatched the phrase book out of her hand. Flipping through it, he stopped at a page, poked at something with his clawed forefinger, and stalked away. 

Buffy looked at the place where his claw had left a big indentation. "Leave me alone, please," she read, incredulously. _Jerk_. Not for the first time, she wondered what Kagome and her family saw in this guy.

Finally, the delivery man arrived, box in hand. 

Buffy signed for the package, took it into the house, and eagerly opened it. Inside, she found a weird-looking jeweled sphere nestled in packing material, along with a note from Giles folded around a metal headband. 

_My dear Buffy_, he wrote. _I don't usually recommend using a_ _language-induction charm, but I'm afraid you don't really have a choice in this instance. No one five hundred years in Japan's past is going to speak English, much less the mangled dialect that you're so fond of. So you are simply going to have to grit your teeth and go ahead with it. Put it on at least a day in advance of your journey, and speak the following words_--a couple of lines of Latin mumbo-jumbo followed. _As for the Portal Key_...

Buffy skimmed over the rest of the note, which consisted of instructions for setting up and using the Key. 

_Godspeed, and do let me know when you've returned safely. Affectionately, Giles_.

"Well, here goes nothing," Buffy said to Kagome. They were sitting on the living room couch. Inuyasha was still outside, probably sulking. 

She picked up the language-induction charm and examined it. It looked like a headband made from braided silver, set with a single oval white gem. She carefully settled it over her hair, centering the gem on her forehead. 

She unfolded Giles's note, and recited the phrases he had written out for her. 

Almost immediately, Buffy felt like someone was driving nails into her skull. _No wonder he didn't recommend using this_, she thought, the pain intensifying with every second. 

After five minutes, she thought her head was going to split open. In fact, she was sort of hoping it would, if only to relieve the terrible throbbing.

Buffy bit her lips until she could taste the saltiness of her own blood. Finally, she couldn't stay silent. A moan escaped her. Through the fog of agony, she saw that Kagome looked really scared. 

"I'll--I'll be okay," she lied, and then everything went black. 

She came back to consciousness slowly. Her first thought was that Inuyasha had a real potty mouth. "...why the fuck do we have to take that yellow-haired foreign bitch through the well with us? We already have a youkai-taijya. What the hell do we need another one for?"

Her second thought was amazement that she could understand him at all. 

"Eh, she's awake now," Inuyasha said, in a disgusted tone. 

"How are you feeling?" Kagome asked, anxiously. Buffy felt cool fingers touch her forehead.

She opened her eyes and groaned. She was on Kagome's pink bed, and the headache was still with her, like a really bad date who wouldn't take a hint. "Give me a bottle of aspirin and I might feel human again."

"Keh!" She looked over to see Inuyasha sitting on his haunches next to the bed. He was grinning evilly, his fangs sharp and white. "There is no aspirin in my era. Are you sure you still want to tag along, wimpy foreign slayer?"

"Fuck you, dog-boy," Buffy said, wearily, closing her eyes again.


	6. When It Absolutely, Positively, Has To B...

5 5. "When It Absolutely, Positively, Has To Be There Overnight"

_Tokyo, the present day_

After dinner, the group dispersed. Koji and Grandpa Higurashi went out for a walk. Souta grabbed Inuyasha by the sleeve and practically dragged him into the living room. Buffy heard the TV turn on, followed by the familiar sounds of a video game. 

Kagome and her mom shooed Buffy out of the kitchen when she tried to help with the dishes, so she took the opportunity to sit on the bottom step of the staircase, pull her cellphone out of her purse, and dial Giles's number in England. 

"Yes?" A woman answered the phone in a husky voice that sounded like British-flavored caramel, and with a guilty start, Buffy realized that it was probably 4am in London. 

"Hi, Olivia," she said quickly. "I am _so_ sorry to call you at oh-dark-thirty, but I'm in Tokyo and something urgent has come up. Can I speak with Giles, please?"

"Slayer business?" Olivia yawned. "Just a moment." 

A second later, Giles was on the phone, sounding just as groggy as his girlfriend. "Yes, Buffy?"

Buffy repeated her apology for waking him up, then gave Giles the _TV Guide_ version of what had happened that afternoon. She finished with: "...and now it looks like Koji wants me to time-travel back to medieval Japan ASAP with the dog-demon-guy, and I just know my phrasebook is going to be even more useless than it is now!" 

Giles laughed, sounding a little more awake now. "I wish I was coming with you, Buffy," he said, sounding like he really meant it. Knowing Giles, he probably _did_ mean it. "In any case, I know of a Portal Key in Cambridge. I'll Fed-Ex it to you first thing in the morning. And I should probably include a language-induction charm as well, so that you will be able to understand the natives once you arrive at your destination."

"You mean I'll be able to speak Japanese? Hallelujah!" said Buffy. She had been worrying about that part of her planned mission. "Why didn't I get one of those before I hopped on the plane?"

"Because," answered Giles, in his usual dry tone. "They are rather...uncomfortable...to apply, and should only be used in the most urgent instances."

"Giles, you're the very best Watcher, ever!" said Buffy, fondly. "Though I have to tell you, that Koji is pretty hot. For a Watcher, I mean." 

"Thank you, I really needed to know _that_," Giles said, but Buffy could tell he was smiling on the other end of the line. "Now, if there's nothing else...?"

"Nope. Sorry to wake you. Bye!"

"Take care, Buffy."

Koji and Grandpa Higurashi returned shortly, breathing heavily. They were lugging Buffy's large backpack between them, which they leaned against the side of the staircase. 

At Buffy's puzzled look, Koji said, "The Higurashi family would very much like to have you as their guest. Would you mind changing your plans, and stay here for a few days instead of at the Hotel Osaka?"

"Sure," replied Buffy. "As long as I'm not imposing..."

"No, no worries." Koji turned to Grandpa Higurashi and spoke with him briefly.

"He insists that you are most welcome, and would you mind sharing Kagome's room?"

"Can you tell him I appreciate the offer? Uh, wait, I think I remember: Domo arigato, Higurashi-san." 

Grandpa gave her a big smile, then bowed and left her alone with Koji.

"Good. I would really rather not have to carry your backpack down the hill again tonight," said Koji. The dimple reappeared briefly. He added: "And I shall feel better knowing that you are close by if something else happens here." 

He handed her a slip of paper. "My home phone number and my mobile number. Please contact me as soon as Mr. Giles's package arrives." 

"Sure thing," Buffy said, tucking the paper into the front pocket of her purse. 

"Good night, then, Miss Summers." And with that, Koji departed, leaving Buffy on her own with the Higurashi family...and the dog boy. _Well, this is certainly going to be a lot more interesting than staying at the hotel_.

oo0oo

Filthy and jet-lagged, Buffy was ready to kiss Kagome's feet in gratitude when she offered to show Buffy how to take a hot bath, Japanese style. 

Buffy carried her backpack upstairs and put it in Kagome's room, which was furnished with a twin bed, a desk, and a chair. It was very...pink. Pink bedspread. Pink ruffled pillow. Pale pink rug. _Yep, definitely a very girly room_. 

She dug clean underwear and her pajamas out of her backpack, then followed the teen-ager across the landing to the bathroom. 

The bathroom looked very different from Buffy was used to. There was an alcove with a sink--"For undressing," said Kagome--and a tiled part, which had a shower and a deep tub. 

The tub was already filled and steaming gently. After eight hours on a plane, followed by a fight with giant bugs, the sight of soap and hot water made Buffy's toes curl in anticipation. 

Kagome explained that Buffy should wash herself and shampoo her hair using the shower before climbing into the tub to soak Then she left, leaving fluffy towels neatly folded on a low stool.

It was heavenly. Buffy stayed in the bath until her fingertips looked white and wrinkly, and the meat felt ready to fall off her bones. _I'll turn into Buffy-soup if I stay her any longer_, she thought, sleepily, gathering herself to stand up at last. _But it'll be very happy Buffy-soup._

Clean at last, her knees pleasantly rubbery and the rest of her feeling utterly relaxed, Buffy got dressed, then went to find Kagome. 

Inuyasha had already bedded down in the living room--though _bedded down_ was maybe the wrong way to describe it. He was sitting on the couch, knees drawn up, chin resting on his chest, and one clawed hand wrapped around his sword--which looked much smaller and rattier than Buffy remembered from this afternoon's battle. 

But he wasn't completely asleep despite his closed eyes: as the two girls tiptoed past, Buffy saw one doggy ear twitch, and realized that he was keeping watch in case Koji's seals didn't hold. 

_Maybe he isn't a complete jerk, after all. _

Kagome was carrying more towels and what looked like a dressing robe over one arm. She stopped at the entrance to the living room and said something to Inuyasha in a quiet voice, holding out the robe. 

He opened one golden eye, shook his head, and replied, pointing at the front door with his chin. Kagome didn't look happy at that. 

To Buffy's amusement, she marched over to the couch, dropped the robe down next to him, then stood over him, her hands on her hips. Reaching down, she plucked at one stained red sleeve, her nose wrinkling. She was still speaking, and Buffy caught her name. 

Inuyasha scowled in Buffy's direction, then heaved himself to his feet with a loud, long-suffering sigh. He snatched up the robe with a muttered "Keh!," and thrust his battered sword at Buffy, who took it. 

Then he marched to the bathroom, still muttering under his breath.

Kagome was smiling as she watched him stomp out of the room. 

"I hope it is okay," she said to Buffy. "To sit down and keep watch while Inuyasha is, ah, in the bath? Bathing?" she corrected herself. 

Buffy seated herself. "Not a problem. He's, um, pretty dedicated, isn't he?"

Kagome nodded. "Yes. He protects me very well in the Sengoku-jidai, the..." she frowned, obviously trying to think of the right word. "Warring States era." 

"Do you like it there?"

Kagome nodded. "It is a little strange, but I have many friends there. You will like them, I sincerely hope." She held up her hand, and ticked them off on her fingers: "Miroku-sama, Sango-chan, Kaede ba-chan, and," her smiled turned fond, "Shippo-chan. He is a baby kitsune...um, a fox youkai. Cute!"

"Is there really such a thing as a cute demon?" Buffy asked. She wondered whether Inuyasha had ever been cute, and thought, _Maybe._ _Too bad he grew up to be such a grouch._

The conversation faltered after that. Kagome began to putter around a bit, unplugging the Nintendo unit from the TV, straightening up here and there. 

Buffy stayed put on the couch, and felt herself fading. It had been a _long_ day. She was practically propping her eyelids open by the time a rather rosy-looking Inuyasha returned, clad in a Hawaiian-print dressing gown, his red clothes a bulky package tucked under one arm. His hair was hanging in damp strands down his back. 

Kagome firmly pulled the bundle of soiled clothing out of his grasp, and left the living room. Seeing that that Buffy was on the couch, Inuyasha plopped himself down on one of the floor cushions. 

An uncomfortable silence ensued as they studied each other from the corners of their eyes. Buffy reached into the pocket of her pajamas and pulled out the phrase book, but nothing seemed appropriate for starting a conversation with a sulky demon.

Buffy heard the sounds of a washing machine start up from the other side of the house. 

"I hope she uses cold water, or you might end up with a tiny, pink kimono-thingy," she said conversationally, even though she knew Inuyasha couldn't understand her. 

He gave her a puzzled look from those amazing golden eyes, and she attempted a smile. He quickly turned away, and stared silently out of the window at the dark courtyard until Kagome returned, carrying a blow-dryer and a comb. 

Seating herself next to Buffy, she asked Inuyasha something.

He didn't move for a long moment, then, almost reluctantly, he scooted around the low table, until his back was leaning against the couch between Kagome's knees. She gathered up the thick mass of his wet hair in one hand, letting it pile up on her lap, and gently tilted his head back.

His perpetual scowl relaxed a little as Kagome pulled the comb through his bangs and long forelocks. 

When she finished with the top and front of his head, he bent forward obligingly so that she could begin to comb out sections of his thick, butt-length mane. Her fingers brushed against his cheeks and neck as she gathered up handfuls of his wet hair, and Buffy saw the corners of Inuyasha's mouth curve upward whenever she touched him like that. 

His eyes began to droop as he rested his arms on the coffee table. Within minutes, he looked completely relaxed, his face buried in his crossed arms. Tenderness suffused Kagome's expression as she worked the comb through the thick mass of silver hair, and they both seemed to have completely forgotten Buffy's presence. 

_They're smitten,_ thought Buffy with a pang, remembering her own ill-fated bout of smit when she was Kagome's age. _Too bad she's so nice and he's such a jerk. He's really going to put her through the wringer. _Buffy knew this from bitter experience, being susceptible to the charms of a bad boy, herself. 

Speaking of which, she wondered how her two favorite bad boys were getting along--in her last phone call to Angel, from the Youth Hostel in Bangkok, he had mentioned in an extremely irritated tone that Spike was currently haunting the offices of Wolfram and Hart. 

She had been glad to hear that Spike wasn't...entirely...dead, but it was kind of weird to think of him as incorporeal. He had been the most physical person she had ever met.

Thinking of Spike made Buffy remember some of the less mentionable ways they had been physical, and she felt her face heat. She actually missed him, which felt kind of disloyal to Angel. Not that she and Angel were ever getting physical again, either. Buffy sighed._ I should warn Kagome about the whole getting-involved-with-demons thing._

Meanwhile, Kagome had finished combing out Inuyasha's hair. She picked up the blow-dryer and wielded it vigorously until his mane lay shining over his back and shoulders. 

Then, with a barely-suppressed giggle, she tickled Inuyasha's ears. They twitched once, twice, three times. Finally, he opened his eyes and growled something that Buffy mentally translated as "Hey, cut that out!" 

Kagome patted him firmly on the head, which made his scowl return, then stood up. Recognizing her cue, Buffy dropped his sword on the coffee table next to his elbow, and followed Kagome out of the living room. Inuyasha didn't move as they left, and Buffy glanced over her should to see that his eyes had closed again. 

"He is very tired," Kagome said, sliding the door shut behind her. 

"I think we all are. It was a tough day," said Buffy "How are your fingers doing?"

Kagome wiggled her fingertips, showing off the colorful Band-Aids wrapped around each fingertip. 

"They will heal soon," she said, as she opened a closet and dragged out a rolled-up futon, a pillow, and a folded quilt. A quick rummage through the closet shelves, and a set of sheets joined the rest of the bedding. 

They piled everything on the futon, then the two of them, carrying the rolled-up mattress between them, staggered upstairs to her bedroom. Unfolding the bed and making it up only took a few minutes. 

Then Buffy gratefully crawled under the quilt, and immediately fell into a deep sleep. 

oo0oo 

Buffy spent most of the following day hanging out at the shrine, waiting for Giles's package to arrive. Things seemed a little tense--Inuyasha plopped himself down in front of the well, obviously not trusting the strength of the seals, Kagome's mom kept looking at Kagome with a worried expression, and Kagome herself chewed nervously on her nails. 

The family struggled to make conversation with Buffy using their schoolbook English and Buffy struggled to make conversation with them using her phrase book. It was mostly a failure, but at least they all laughed a lot.

She even tried venturing out to the well around noontime, and using some of the phrases from the "Making Friends" chapter on Inuyasha. 

He seemed to be in a bad mood again. Buffy wondered if part of the huge chip on his shoulder was the fact that she had intervened in his self-appointed mission to protect Kagome. Or maybe he was just jealous about not being the center of attention--especially Kagome's attention. 

"Konnichi-wa," she ventured, dropping down to sit cross-legged next to him. 

He acted like he hadn't heard her. She noticed he was wearing his red kimono-thingy again today, but it was noticeably cleaner. 

_Dammit. I'm going to make him at least say hi to me._ She looked down at her book. "How are you today?" she asked, sounding out the Japanese syllables uncertainly. "Isn't the weather nice?"

He growled at her, and snatched the phrase book out of her hand. Flipping through it, he stopped at a page, poked at something with his clawed forefinger, and stalked away. 

Buffy looked at the place where his claw had left a big indentation. "Leave me alone, please," she read, incredulously. _Jerk_. Not for the first time, she wondered what Kagome and her family saw in this guy.

Finally, the delivery man arrived, box in hand. 

Buffy signed for the package, took it into the house, and eagerly opened it. Inside, she found a weird-looking jeweled sphere nestled in packing material, along with a note from Giles folded around a metal headband. 

_My dear Buffy_, he wrote. _I don't usually recommend using a_ _language-induction charm, but I'm afraid you don't really have a choice in this instance. No one five hundred years in Japan's past is going to speak English, much less the mangled dialect that you're so fond of. So you are simply going to have to grit your teeth and go ahead with it. Put it on at least a day in advance of your journey, and speak the following words_--a couple of lines of Latin mumbo-jumbo followed. _As for the Portal Key_...

Buffy skimmed over the rest of the note, which consisted of instructions for setting up and using the Key. 

_Godspeed, and do let me know when you've returned safely. Affectionately, Giles_.

"Well, here goes nothing," Buffy said to Kagome. They were sitting on the living room couch. Inuyasha was still outside, probably sulking. 

She picked up the language-induction charm and examined it. It looked like a headband made from braided silver, set with a single oval white gem. She carefully settled it over her hair, centering the gem on her forehead. 

She unfolded Giles's note, and recited the phrases he had written out for her. 

Almost immediately, Buffy felt like someone was driving nails into her skull. _No wonder he didn't recommend using this_, she thought, the pain intensifying with every second. 

After five minutes, she thought her head was going to split open. In fact, she was sort of hoping it would, if only to relieve the terrible throbbing.

Buffy bit her lips until she could taste the saltiness of her own blood. Finally, she couldn't stay silent. A moan escaped her. Through the fog of agony, she saw that Kagome looked really scared. 

"I'll--I'll be okay," she lied, and then everything went black. 

She came back to consciousness slowly. Her first thought was that Inuyasha had a real potty mouth. "...why the fuck do we have to take that yellow-haired foreign bitch through the well with us? We already have a youkai-taijya. What the hell do we need another one for?"

Her second thought was amazement that she could understand him at all. 

"Eh, she's awake now," Inuyasha said, in a disgusted tone. 

"How are you feeling?" Kagome asked, anxiously. Buffy felt cool fingers touch her forehead.

She opened her eyes and groaned. She was on Kagome's pink bed, and the headache was still with her, like a really bad date who wouldn't take a hint. "Give me a bottle of aspirin and I might feel human again."

"Keh!" She looked over to see Inuyasha sitting on his haunches next to the bed. He was grinning evilly, his fangs sharp and white. "There is no aspirin in my era. Are you sure you still want to tag along, wimpy foreign slayer?"

"Fuck you, dog-boy," Buffy said, wearily, closing her eyes again.


	7. Parting Words

5 5. Parting Words

_Tokyo, present day_

When Buffy woke up again, the sun was much lower in the sky, and the vicious headache had subsided to a faint throb behind her eyes. 

Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen, but Kagome was sitting at her desk, her back to Buffy. Open books were scattered over the desktop, and she was scribbling furiously away. 

Buffy pushed herself up from the pink bed, and swung her legs over the edge. A little blearily, she ventured, "Hello?" 

The Japanese coming from her mouth felt weird, as if an invisible United Nations simultaneous-translator had taken up residence in her skull, and the words actually coming from her mouth were a foreign-language echo of her thoughts--which were still in English, as far as she could tell. 

"You're finally awake!" Kagome put down her pen and turned around.. "Are you feeling better, Buffy-san?"

"Much," Buffy assured her, with a wry grin. "Was I out a long time?" She ran her fingers through her tousled hair. _I bet I totally have bed-head_.

"It's nearly dinnertime. Oh, and Minamide-sensei came. He was a little upset that you didn't wait for him before putting on that headband."

"Oh, well, it probably would have freaked him out. It freaked _me_ out." Buffy sighed, and rubbed her temples. "What are you working on?" 

"I have an essay due tomorrow," Kagome grumbled. "At least it's History, which has become my best subject."

"I'll bet," Buffy said, getting to her feet. Her backpack was standing against Kagome's closet doors, and the futon was nowhere in sight. 

"I figured that if I finished writing it before we left, Souta could turn it in for me." She looked back down at the book in front of her, and Buffy caught a glimpse of a samurai. "It's hard when the books get things wrong about the Warring States era, though," Kagome continued. "I can't argue with the teacher, even when I know something is a lie." 

"Isn't there a saying about how the victors always get to write the history books, or something?" Buffy said. "Speaking of history, where's your medieval dog-demon friend?"

"I kicked him out of the house," Kagome said, her lips thinning. "He wouldn't let me study. I think he's helping Grandpa and Souta clear away the...remains...from the courtyard." Her nose wrinkled. 

"Better him than me," Buffy agreed. "When will we be leaving, Kagome?"

"After dinner. _If_ I get this essay finished."

"I'd better sort through my stuff, then," Buffy said, taking the hint. 

oo0oo

When they reached the remains of the well-house, Buffy saw that most of the broken boards had been cleared away and stacked in a haphazard pile. Little more than the gray-tiled roof, the back wall, and the frame remained in the aftermath of the bug-demon attacks. 

As she followed Kagome across the courtyard, Inuyasha's silver head came into view as he climbed the steps out of the well-house's sunken interior. He was carrying three or four splintered planks under one arm. The shredded remains of a window frame hung around his wrist, the oiled paper torn and flapping forlornly as he reached the top of the stairs and flung the debris onto the pile. 

"That's the last of it," he told Grandpa Higurashi, dusting splinters from his palms. "Those damn youkai really messed things up. It's lucky the well's still okay."

Kagome waved at him, and for a moment there, it looked like he might actually smile. Then he caught sight of Buffy, and the familiar scowl returned.

"Miss Summers!" Buffy heard Koji's voice behind her. She turned, and saw him coming in her direction. He was pushing a brand-new blue mountain bike. 

"Miss Summers, how are you feeling? Are you all right?" he asked, still speaking English.

"I'm feeling just fine, but thank you for asking," she replied, in Japanese. 

It was worth it just to see his look of delighted surprise. "So, it really worked," he said, grinning. "Sixteenth-century dialect, and all! I didn't really believe it...oh, and this is for you." 

He pushed the bike forward, and she took it by the handlebars. "Um, thank you very much." 

Puzzled, she examined it. It was a really nice bike, fitted with a large sports water bottle, a tire repair kit, and a sturdy metal rack over the back fender. 

He took pity on her, "Higurashi-san told me that Kagome-chan took her bicycle through the well a few months ago."

"It's been very useful for traveling through the countryside," Kagome added. "It allows me to keep up with Inuyasha and Kirara."

"Because you walk so slowly, even when I'm carrying your sack of food and books," said Inuyasha. He came over to stand by Kagome. "Are you going to bring some of those noodle things? I like those."

"Already packed," she told him. "And I'm bringing strawberry lollipops for Shippou."

"Eh, that brat," said Inuyasha. "You'll spoil him,"

"So, does that mean I'm spoiling _you_ by bringing ramen and potato chips every time I come through the well?" Kagome put her hands on her hips, but her tone was teasing rather than annoyed. It sounded like she'd had this conversation with Inuyasha before.

"That's diff--"

"Kirara?" interrupted Buffy.

Kagome gave a little smile. "She belongs to Sango-chan. You'll see." 

She turned to Koji. "Minamide-sensei, we'll be eating dinner very soon. Would you please join us?"

oo0oo

Dinner was teriyaki beef this time, with rice and stir-fried vegetables, and it was delicious. 

Both Kagome and her mother seemed to lose their appetites when Koji began to speculate about what might be waiting for them on the other side of the well-portal. 

"This Naraku," he pondered. "You say that he's able to control other youkai?"

Buffy caught Kagome's pleading look, and intervened.

"I'm not really worried," she told Koji, aware that Mrs. Higurashi was hanging on every word. "I mean, it's not like an impending apocalypse or anything. To be honest, I'm more nervous about the lack of running water and electricity in the sixteenth century than I am of this Naraku guy."

Kagome caught the clue and ran with it. "Nothing but cold baths in streams and lakes, unless we happen to camp near a hot spring," she reported, glumly. 

"And then you've always got that pervert monk lurking in the bushes," Inuyasha added. 

He winced as Kagome kicked him, hard, under the table.

Mrs. Higurashi sighed, but said nothing beyond offering him another helping of the teriyaki beef. 

_Really, she's practically force-feeding the three of us_, Buffy thought. A_re they, like, having a famine in the Warring States era? Is there something that Koji's not telling me?_

Mrs. Higurashi served mochi for dessert. What looked like multi-colored truffles dusted with powdered sugar turned out to be chewy and mostly tasteless balls of rice dough. 

Buffy finished the one she had bitten into, and pushed her remaining portion over to Inuyasha. 

He gave her a suspicious look. He had already gobbled his down with every evidence of enjoyment, and the table in front of him was littered with the empty paper wrappers.

"Really, it's okay," she whispered. "If you like them, that is."

He didn't need a second invitation. 

Of course, he didn't thank her, either, but she felt virtuous about having made the first move to thaw relations between them. _Hey, we might even be on speaking terms before we get to the big showdown with Naraku!_

oo0oo

After dinner, they all tramped back over to the well-house. Buffy's new bike was already parked on the sunken floor next to the well itself, and her backpack stood nearby. The seals had been removed, along with the well-cover, and the open shaft was a square of darkness.

Mrs. Higurashi, who had been really stoic so far about Kagome's departure to dangers unknown, betrayed the depth of her anxiety by giving Kagome a long hug farewell. Her eyes looked awfully shiny when she finally released her daughter.

With a pang, Buffy remembered how her own Mom had tried to hide her worry whenever Buffy went out patrolling for vampires. 

_And Kagome doesn't seem to have any superpowers...if I was her Mom, I'd probably lock her in her room._

oo0oo

Her mother's unspoken anxiety settled like a heavy lump in Kagome's stomach. She knew Mama was concerned whenever she traveled through the well, but the actual dangers had never been discussed--until now. 

Kagome longed to reassure her mother, but didn't know where to begin. Mama, being Mama, would never actually _say_ anything about how she was feeling. It was left to Kagome to interpret the unspoken fear behind the special dessert, the lingering looks across the dinner table, the good-bye hug that lasted a little too long. 

She allowed Mama to give her a fierce hug, then Inuyasha surprised her. 

He walked over to where they were standing, and Kagome felt his hand settle on her shoulder. He gave it a reassuring squeeze, and addressed Mama: 

"I'll protect Kagome with my life," he said, gruffly. "And I'll bring her safely home to you when we've completed our task. I swear this to you on--on my honor," he finished, looking a little embarrassed.

Kagome felt her cheeks heat at the combination of his words and his lingering touch--_he really cares!_--and saw tears well up in Mama's eyes.

Then, to her vast astonishment, Mama embraced him, too. 

He stood there, eyes wide, his cheeks flushing bright red, arms held stiffly at his sides, as her mother put both arms around his waist and held him close. 

"Please keep yourself safe, as well," she said, her voice a little muffled by the front of his haori. "You have been a good friend to Kagome, and it would make me sad if anything happened to you, Inuyasha. I know your mother would say the same thing, if she were here."

Inuyasha swallowed hard. He closed his eyes, and returned the embrace at last, briefly resting his cheek against Mama's hair. Then he cleared his throat and gently but firmly disentangled himself. 

oo0oo

_He looks completely gobsmacked,_ thought Buffy. 

Kagome was staring at her mother with an expression nearly identical to his. _I guess hugging isn't big in Japan_. 

Inuyasha opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no words emerged. 

Finally, he said, roughly, "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." 

Grabbing Buffy's bike and hoisting to his shoulder, he spun on his bare heel and strode away, his long hair rippling like a silver banner behind him. 

Tears were rolling down Mrs. Higurashi's cheeks as he disappeared down the well with the bike, but she pulled out a Kleenex and dabbed rapidly at her face. 

By the time Inuyasha returned a few minutes later, she was standing against the single remaining wall, completely composed again. 

Then it was time to activate the Portal Key. As Koji unfolded the letter Giles had sent, Buffy drew out the small, jeweled sphere from her backpack.

She cupped it in her right hand. It felt strangely warm, and she swore she could hear it hum. She pressed three of the jewels as Giles had instructed, and the sphere opened like a music box, revealing an empty compartment.

Kagome pulled up the container of Shikon-no-Tama shards that hung from a cord around her neck, and Buffy caught her first glimpse of the jewel she had heard so much about these past couple of days. 

_It's_ pink_. Figures. _

Kagome uncorked the small bottle, and shook one of the tiny fragments onto her palm. She handed it to Buffy, who put it in the sphere's compartment. She closed the sphere, and the humming grew louder. 

As Koji began to read the Latin spell in Giles's letter, the sphere started to pulse with the same blue aura emitted by the well. 

Buffy hoped this meant that they would all end up in the same time--and place--on the other side of the well.

"Good luck, Summers-san," said Koji, folding the letter and handing it to her. "When you're ready to return, just put something from the present day in the compartment, and recite the spell."

"Good luck, sis!" Kagome's brother said. "Don't be a jerk to big brother Inuyasha!"

"What do you mean?" Kagome snapped as Inuyasha smirked. 

Grandpa Higurashi intoned a short blessing.

"Are we finally ready to go?" growled Inuyasha when Grandpa finished his prayer with a shake from what looked like a shredded-paper pom-pom. 

He strode to the lip of the well, and stood waiting for them, arms akimbo. 

An enormous canvas rucksack bulging with books, food, and at least ten bags of potato chips stood next to Buffy's backpack. She wondered on earth Kagome was going to be able to lift it. 

Even with her Slayer strength, Buffy herself had spent an hour trying to lighten her pack by leaving behind everything she possibly could. The blow-dryer had been a no-brainer. Ditching her Sephora eyeliner and foundation had been a more difficult decision. 

With the air of long habit, Inuyasha picked up Kagome's pack with one hand as if it were weightless, and swung it over to the wooden lip of the well. 

_Aha_, thought Buffy. _There's hope for him yet. _

He gave her a sidelong look, as if reading her mind, then picked up her backpack as well, and plonked it down next to Kagome's 

"Thank--" Buffy started to say, but he had already disappeared down the well, taking the packs with him. A few seconds later, the well glowed the blue that signaled "incoming", and Buffy picked up her naginata. Just in case. 

But it was only Inuyasha, making a return trip. 

Then, the three of them--Buffy, Inuyasha, and Kagome--climbed over the lip of the well. Buffy saw a long ladder leaning up against the inside of the stone-lined shaft, and wondered who was going to climb down first.

oo0oo

As it turned out, there wasn't any climbing involved. 

She heard Inuyasha say, "Let's go!" and felt him grab the back of her t-shirt. He jumped, taking her and Kagome with him. 

Then they were falling...falling...falling...through an endless night filled with stars. 

There was no sound, no feeling of wind rushing past her. Only the sharp pressure of Inuyasha's claws against the back of her neck reassured her that she hadn't been separated from the others. 

Then the darkness was gone, and Buffy was aware that she was standing on solid ground once again. She was at the bottom of the stone-lined well. The two packs stood nearby, near the bleached ribcage of what looked like a really big snake. 

_It didn't work_, she thought, disappointed. Then she heard birdsong, and looked up to see blue sky at the top of the shaft. 

"What are you waiting for? Climb," ordered Inuyasha, releasing his hold on her shirt. 

Kagome had already grabbed the thick vines growing down into the well, and was climbing up, bracing herself with toeholds in the rough-cut stones. 

_And in a miniskirt, too._ Buffy could see her panties--pink, of course--and noticed that Inuyasha was looking, too. His mouth was slightly open.

_Wonder if Kagome does that on purpose?_ Buffy put the Portal Key in her pocket, and poked him. "After you."

oo0oo

Even carrying both packs, Inuyasha reached the top of the well before Buffy did. Of course, he did it using one of his incredible gravity-defying leaps, and bypassing the vines entirely. 

_Show-off_, thought Buffy, panting a little as she reached the top of the well, and pulled herself up. 

The well on this side of the portal was located in a forest meadow. Except for the birdsong, it was incredibly quiet. No hum of traffic, growl of airplanes, or honking. The deep silence felt like it was pressing on her eardrums. 

"KAGOMEEEEE!" A little kid came running across the clearing, bounded into Kagome's arms, and nuzzled against her neck. "You were gone for such a long time! We kept seeing demons go into the well--Sango killed a lot of them, and Miroku, too, but they just kept coming and coming! I was so worried!"

This must be Shippou, the baby fox demon. Kagome had been spot-on in describing him as _really cute_. He was dressed in pants, a shirt and a vest, and he had a human face, thick auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail, and the most adorable little fox-paws emerging from his loose trousers. 

Like Inuyasha, he had fangs, but on Shippo, the effect was adorable rather than feral.

Kagome was stroking him, making soothing noises as he curled against her neck, holding her tightly. Buffy noticed that he had a very bushy tail. 

_I wonder if Inuyasha has a tail?_ She didn't think he'd take kindly to being asked.

"It's okay, Shippou, it's okay." Kagome rocked him in her arms. "Inuyasha was there to protect me. And I made a new friend, too." 

Shippo, a little calmer now, finally raised his head and looked around. 

"Her?" He pointed at Buffy with one tiny, paw-like hand. 

"Yes," said Kagome. "This is Buffy, a youkai slayer."

"Hello," said Buffy. 

He walked over to her and inspected her with a very solemn expression. "You have funny-colored hair. And green eyes. Are you a hanyou, like Inuyasha?"

_Oh, so the dog-boy's only half-demon! _Buffy shook her head. "I'm human, but I'm not Japanese. I'm from California, which is, uh, across the ocean from here."

"Kari-funya? I've never heard of it." He blinked a couple of times, as if thinking it over, then said: "If Kagome says you're okay, then you're okay. You can stay."

Buffy couldn't help laughing. "Thanks, kiddo."

Shippou jumped up on Inuyasha's shoulder next. "Did Kagome's mother cook steak for you this time?"

His nose wrinkled suddenly. He leaned over, stuck his face in Inuyasha's hair, and took a deep sniff. 

"You smell like fruit--just like Kagome's hair!" exclaimed Shippou. "Did you two_ finally_ bathe together?" 

Inuyasha blushed--_twice in one day!_--and Buffy couldn't help laughing. She heard Kagome giggling as well.

Inuyasha growled and viciously backhanded the little kitsune off his shoulder. Shippou hit the ground with a thump. Before he could scramble away, Inuyasha grabbed him by the tail and lifted him. 

"You little brat!" He smacked Shippou, hard, on the head, and the fox-cub wailed. 

"Stop whining. You asked for it!" Inuyasha raised his hand again--only to find his arm wrenched up behind his back. 

"You're such a jerk!" said Buffy, as he tried and failed to break her grip. 

"He hurt me!" wailed Shippou.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome said, in a warning tone. 

"But he asked for it!" Inuyasha protested, but Kagome was already raising her hand to him. _Uh-oh._

"You're in trouble, now!" Shippou called gleefully.

"Osuwari!" 

Buffy released her hold on Inuyasha just in time. 

In the next instant, the hanyou boy lay face-down at her feet, and the air was filled with the sharp fragrance of crushed grass. 

"Kagome," said Buffy. "That has got to be the best move, EVER." 


	8. United We Stand?

6 6. United We Stand?

_Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan_

Shippou, that little brat, cuddled in Kagome's arms all the way back to the village, chattering non-stop.

But little kitsune was the only one talking as the little group made their way through the darkening forest. Trudging along in Kagome's wake, Inuyasha turned his head and spat out the blades of grass still stuck between his teeth. _Keh!_

Buffy brought up the rear, apparently lost in thought, pausing occasionally to shift the weight of her backpack on her shoulders.

If she hadn't been such an interfering bitch just now, Inuyasha would have offered to carry it for her, the way he carried Kagome's sack. 

This foreigner called herself a youkai-slayer, and yet she was ignorant of the most basic facts about youkai! No way a little tap like the one he'd given Shippou could ever hurt a kitsune. Inuyasha had just been teaching him some manners. 

But that stupid fox-cub knew enough about humans to play the helpless baby whenever it suited him. And they fell for it every time. _He's so small and cute!_ Feh! _Shippou oughta be ashamed of himself!_

Even now, he was pulling the wool over Kagome's eyes.

He caught the word _Buffy_ and snarled silently.

Kagome's latest "SIT!" had been unfair, thought Inuyasha. And that wasn't the only thing unfair about the last two days.

He had fought for hours, beating off every youkai that came through the well, and who had gotten all the credit? _Buffy!_ That bitch had killed three, maybe four, youkai at the most, but everyone had been treating her like something special since then. 

Even Kagome--_his Kagome!_--seemed to be under the foreign Slayer's spell. Why she'd scarcely even spoken to Inuyasha since Buffy's arrival, and when she did, it was _Buffy did this_, and _Buffy said that_. 

He growled, which finally caught Kagome's attention. 

"Inuyasha?" She stopped and looked at him with those big dark eyes. "Is something wrong?" 

And he instantly felt like apologizing for thinking bad thoughts. 

He clenched his fists, claws digging into his palms. 

_Damn it! Why did he want to apologize? _He_ was the wronged party here! _

"It's nothing." He looked away. "Just keep walking--it's getting dark."

He saw the momentary hurt in her eyes at his curtness, and felt relieved. She still cared about him! Still wanted him to like her. 

Which he did. More than he should. Somehow, she had managed to worm her way into his heart. 

His only other experience with love had been with Kikyo. Sworn virgin priestess that she was, what else could he do but worship her from afar? Which he had been all too willing to do. 

Which is why he had failed to recognize the danger signs with Kagome. At first, he had felt nothing but contempt for her bungling. She couldn't shoot straight. Couldn't walk very far. Hell, she couldn't even tell the difference between friend and foe half the time. 

He told himself he was putting up with her company because he had to, because she was the only one who could detect the shards of the Shikon-no-Tama. 

By the time he realized that his toleration of her had become something more, it was already too late. On the night of the new moon, she had wept for his pathetic, poisoned human form, and guarded him when anyone else--_anyone sensible_--would have left him there and run like hell from those Spiderhead demons.

And that put him in a terrible dilemma. 

He was half-demon, and his youkai nature demanded that he bind himself to one, and one only. _Just like a loyal dog._ In contrast, humans believed in distributing their love and their friendship among many. 

This past year had forced him to acknowledge his human side, and turned topsy-turvy a lot of the things he had always believed about himself. 

He had friends. 

He was still bound to Kikyo. 

He had come to love Kagome, who was Kikyo's reincarnation. 

It wasn't _really_ binding himself to more than one when both women were incarnations of the same soul, was it? 

But Kagome, even though she was heiress to Kikyo's soul and Kikyo's mystical powers, was a very different person. 

Unlike Kikyo of the impenetrable reserve, Kagome showed her heart openly. 

He never wondered whether she was angry. Or sad. Or happy.

Though he was usually mystified _why_ she was any of those things at any particular moment. 

And she liked him. Just as he was...demon, human, or hanyou. She made him feel better than he was. Stronger.

He didn't want to lose her, but he feared that he might. And what would the rest of his friends do when they met Buffy? Would they also fall under her spell? Buffy was a skilled fighter, and fully human, after all. Not a lowly half-breed demon. 

_Buffy_, _Buffy_, _Buffy_..._I hate her_, he thought. _Stuck-up human bitch. She acts like she knows everything! And she couldn't even speak like a civilized person until yesterday!_

oo0oo

It was almost dark by the time they finally arrived at the village. Buffy saw the flickering lights up ahead, and sighed with relief. The walk through the woods from the well had seemed endless. 

They emerged from the trees into a clearing that was divided by narrow irrigation ditches into a patchwork of fields. It looked like the harvest had just ended--the rice paddies were all dry and bushy with knee-high stubble.

She followed Kagome and a sullen Inuyasha across a narrow plank bridging one of the canals, and found herself at the base of a hill that looked very familiar. 

A glance up at the torii confirmed her guess...this was an earlier version of the Higurashi Shrine. But why was it so far away from the well? In twenty-first century Tokyo, the well was at the top of the hill, near the actual shrine. 

Maybe Kagome knew...Buffy made a mental note to ask her later. 

"Grandmother Kaede! Everyone! We've returned!" Kagome called, making a beeline for a ramshackle one-room cottage leaning against the base of the hill.

The split-bamboo screen that served as the cottage's door flew open, and three people emerged. 

"Kagome, child, I'm so happy you're safe!" said a stout, elderly woman. She wore the red trousers and white tunic of a Shinto shrine-maiden, and had an eyepatch. The gaze from her remaining eye was a shrewd one, and it examined Buffy carefully. "And you've brought a new friend?" 

"Grandmother Kaede, this is Buffy Summers. She's a youkai-slayer from my world, and she has come to help us prevent any more demons from going through the well."

Buffy hastily slipped her arms out of her backpack's straps, and let it thud to the ground. She bowed, which still felt kind of strange, even after practicing for the last couple of days. "Honored to meet you, Kaede-sama."

"I welcome you to the Sunset Shrine," said Kaede, returning the bow.

"And this is Miroku," Kagome continued. "He's the Buddhist monk I warned you about."

Miroku shot her a hurt look before turning his attention to Buffy.

_What a hottie_, thought Buffy as he stepped forward. He was her age, with pierced ears, gorgeous eyes, and the most adorable little ponytail. He inclined his head and raised one hand in a gesture of blessing, murmuring something. _Well, he doesn't _seem_ like a perv_...

She smiled at him, and he brightened visibly. Then, before she could say anything, he was standing right in front of her. He reached for her hand, all the while gazing soulfully into her eyes. 

"Buffy-sama, will you do me the honor of having my baby?" 

"Smack him, now," hissed the slender, pretty girl standing behind him. "Don't let him get fresh with you!"

"Wha--" Buffy started to say. "EEP!" 

Miroku had grabbed one of her butt-cheeks, and was giving it a healthy squeeze. "You're really pretty, for a foreign woman," he murmured. 

Buffy stomped on his sandal-clad foot, and he yelped, tried to hop away, got tangled up in hem of his long monk's robe, and landed flat on his ass. 

She glared down at him. "Don't you _ever_ pull that shit with me again." 

She took a step toward him, and he scrambled away. "I'm really sorry! I couldn't help myself! Your beauty weakened my self-control!"

Inuyasha gave a short huff of laughter. "You never learn, Miroku!"

"Houshi-sama," said the girl who had warned Buffy. Her shoulders slumped and she sounded disappointed. "Must you do this to _every_ girl we meet?"

He gave her a charming, insincere smile from his place on the floor. "Sango-chan, you know my heart belongs to you." 

"It's not your heart that concerns me, it's your wandering eye and your wandering hands!" She put her hands on her hips, and sighed. 

"And this is Sango, who is also a youkai-slayer," interjected Kagome.

Buffy started to extend her hand, then remembered, and bowed instead. "I'm very pleased to meet you--I've heard a lot about you from Kagome. We'll have to compare notes later on."

"I look forward to it," Sango murmured, returning the bow, her expression sweet and a little sad. 

oo0oo

Everyone sat or knelt around the cottage hearth as Kagome recounted the events of the past two days. As she spoke, Kaede heated water for tea in a kettle suspended over the small hearth in the middle of the cottage floor. 

At first, Kagome tried give Inuyasha the chance to add his version of events, but he seemed more interested in staring at the fire, and contributed little more than grunts. 

Finally, Kagome gave up, and just told them what had happened. No one else seemed to be paying attention to Inuyasha's sulking, so Buffy didn't either. What a strange guy--every time she started to think he was okay, he'd turn around and act like a total jerk. 

When Kagome had finished, there was a long moment of silence. Then Kaede said, "What will you do now, child? How will you stop the demons from attacking your family again?" 

Kagome looked down at her fingers, twisting themselves together in her lap. "I don't know. But we have to do something, and quickly...I'm not sure how long Minamide-sensei's seals can hold."

"We should leave first thing in the morning," said Buffy. "And go get the Portal Key that this Naraku guy is using to send the demons to my time."

"Easier said than done," Miroku pointed out. "We've been trying to find Naraku's castle and retrieve his fragments of the Shikon-no-Tama for almost a year now."

"We've encountered him several times," added Sango. "But he's always used foul tricks and escaped." She bit her lip and looked away. Buffy recognized her expression--it was the look of someone who had lost a lot, perhaps everything. _What did Naraku do to her?_

"Well, we've got to do _something_," Buffy said. "Look, Kagome can sense the presence of the shards, right? And Inuyasha can track demons by smell? I'm a Slayer, and you two--" she met the eyes of Miroku and Sango in turn-- "are experienced demon fighters. So, I'm thinking, all we have to do is--" 

"Why the hell are you telling us what to do?" interrupted Inuyasha. 

"What?" said Buffy. Her train of thought came to screeching halt.

"Who made _you_ the leader?" He finally looked up from his intense contemplation of the hearth, his golden eyes glittering dangerously in the firelight. "We don't know who you _really_ are."

"You know perfectly well--" _That jerk! What did he think he was doing?_

"Don't think you can just walk in here and start giving orders!"

_So, that's it,_ thought Buffy. "Look, this wasn't my idea! I was on vacation. Your people called me for help--and now I'm stuck in a place that doesn't even have hot showers!" 

"Keh! Kagome's grandfather may have called you, but none of us did." Inuyasha looked really angry now. 

"Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed. "How can you say such a thing!"

"It's true!" he protested. "No one _here_ asked her to come!" He turned his attention back to Buffy. "If you're so unhappy about leaving your pampered life in Kagome's time, why don't you just go back home?" 

Buffy took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. _Violence is not the answer_. "And what about the other Portal Key? You really want to put Kagome's family in danger just because you're so--so--pig-headed?"

"Keh! I can retrieve your Portal Key, now that I know what it looks like." Inuyasha leaned forward, digging his talons into the floorboards an inch from Buffy's knees. As long shavings curled up under his fingertips, he dropped his voice to a growly whisper. "Go home, youkai-slayer. We have a slayer of our own. We don't need you." 

"That's not true," Kagome said, her voice shaking. "We _do_ need you. Inuyasha, why are you being so mean to her?" 

He threw her a look filled with hurt betrayal.

But before he could reply, Miroku spoke up. Up until now, he had been sitting quietly, a thoughtful look on his face. 

"Kagome-sama has never before been wrong in her judgment of people," he said in his deep, calm voice. "She sees the good in almost everyone. But this time, I must agree with Inuyasha. Buffy-sama is a stranger, and we must not give her suggestions greater weight than those of our friends."

Inuyasha looked smug at that, and it was Kagome's to look hurt. 

Shippou piped up: "I like Kagome, too, but I think Miroku's right this time. Though I don't think we have to send Buffy home, do we?"

"I'm sorry, but I disagree," said Sango, gravely. "We need all the allies we can get against Naraku. We should give Buffy-san the chance to prove herself. If she can truly lead us to Naraku's castle, then we would be foolish to let pride--" she let her gaze rest on Inuyasha for a moment, and he flushed. "Stand in the way of our vengeance." 

"So that's how it is?" sneered Inuyasha. His hot gaze traveled around the cottage. "All you women are taking sides against me--even Sango, who should know better?"

Kagome's eyes narrowed. "You idiot! Did you ever stop to think that it's _because_ we're women that you're not listening?"

"Children, children!" Kaede said, raising one hand. "We must find a way to settle this dispute peacefully. If you are not united when you go to face Naraku, he will destroy you all and take all of the Shikon-no-Tama for his own. Inuyasha, can you not find it in your heart to reconcile with Buffy?"

Inuyasha turned on her. "You, too, old hag? Buffy, Buffy, Buffy! Is that the only person you can think about now?" Inuyasha raised his hand, and abruptly smashed his fist through the floor. 

In the shocked silence that followed, he pushed himself to his feet and strode to the door.

"If you want _her_ as your leader, then you'll have to go seeking Naraku's castle without me. After all," he said, bitterly. "Why do you need a lowly hanyou when you have that damned Buffy?"

He pushed aside the split-bamboo curtain with enough violence to rip it off its hooks and sent it flying out into the night. 

Then he was gone.


	9. Testosterone Poisoning

7 7. Testosterone Poisoning

_Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan_

The silence that followed Inuyasha's abrupt departure lasted an uncomfortably long time. The water in the kettle began to boil, and without speaking, Kaede brewed a pot of green tea and served it to her remaining guests.

"Well? What should I do?" Buffy demanded, finally, in that very direct American way of hers. She crossed her arms and looked around the room. "Do you want me to leave, and leave you guys to try and find the Portal Key on your own?"

Kagome saw Miroku and Sango trade looks, but no one answered immediately. 

"Look," continued Buffy, addressing all of them, but looking directly at Kagome. "I'm really sorry that my presence here seems to be causing a problem. I only want to help you guys out!" 

Kagome remembered the look of betrayal in Inuyasha's eyes when she had spoken up to take Buffy's side, and something hurt inside her chest. 

But it was Miroku who spoke. 

"Please try to understand, Buffy-sama," he said. "Inuyasha is a hanyou...neither fully human nor completely demon. And in this time and place, hanyou are treated badly. Humans fear them, and demons despise them. Thanks to Kagome-sama's generous heart, Inuyasha is learning how to be a man...and a friend...but trust does not come easily to him. Neither does acceptance."

"Should I go after him? Do you think he'd listen to me?" Buffy's shoulders slumped a little. "I mean, I of all people should know how important friends are. Especially when you live in a place with demons and stuff. He shouldn't have to worry that I'm gonna make you guys hate him, or something."

"No, I'm the one who should go," Kagome said, thinking _I'm not sure what I did to make him think I was abandoning him, but I can't bear the thought of losing him_.

"Do you think you can convince Inuyasha to change his mind?" Kaede asked, sipping from her tea. 

"I don't know," admitted Kagome, staring down at the steaming cup in her own hands. "But I have to at least try. Maybe he doesn't mean it."

"You know how he is," Sango said, encouragingly. "He doesn't like to show that he needs anyone. Perhaps, if you convince him that _we_ need _him_...?"

"We _do_ need him." Miroku sighed. "Without the power of the red Tetsusaiga, we won't be able to breach the barrier around Naraku's castle."

"And he'll probably feel better if you at least ask him to reconsider," Buffy added. "Tell him that, if it comes down to him or me, I'll go home."

"I'll do my best," Kagome said, but she sounded dispirited, even to herself. 

She rose from her seat next to the glowing hearth, dug in her backpack for a flashlight, then went outside. 

It had cooled off considerably since sunset, and she was glad of her long-sleeved pullover, though her miniskirt exposed her legs to the autumn chill. Maybe she'd put on some pants tomorrow, though doing so meant admitting that winter was on the way. And she hated winter--the damp, gray cold days, the long hours of darkness, and worst of all, snow. 

Should she take her bike and look for Inuyasha? She stopped for a moment to look at where it leaned against one wall of Kaede's cottage, Buffy's shiny blue bicycle parked next to it. 

_No_, she decided. If her guess was right, he hadn't gone far. There was a tree near the Bone-eater's Well that he favored for thinking or sulking. She would look there first. 

Even with a flashlight, the woods were dark. Everything looked different at night, and she was glad of the faint path worn between the village and the clearing. It kept her from getting lost. 

When she reached the Bone-eater's Well, she continued on to the other side of the clearing. Sure enough, there was a dark shape sitting on the lowest limb of his favorite tree, his back to the trunk, his legs dangling down on either side of the thick branch. 

She switched off the flashlight, and looked up at his silhouette. His pale hair glowed in the moonlight that filtered through the branches. 

"Inuyasha?" she said, though she knew that his heightened senses had informed him of her arrival long before she came into view. 

"What do you want?" He didn't look at her. 

"Inuyasha, please come back." 

"Did Buffy ask you to talk to me?" His voice had an unpleasant edge to it. 

"No," she said. "We need you, Inuyasha. I--" she stopped, afraid of revealing too much. "Only Tetsusaiga has any chance of breaking Naraku's barriers."

"So, you remembered that I'm useful to you, after all." Under his bitterness, she detected sadness. 

Did he really think that they valued him only for his _usefulness_? "You know that's not the only reason."

"Do I? And what about your new friend Buffy? Isn't she more useful than I am? At least she _looks_ human." He leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree, letting the shadows hide his dog-ears. 

Kagome felt as if she were treading water in a bottomless black lake. _Oh, Inuyasha, why won't you believe me when I tell you that I like everything about you? Even the things that aren't human?_

"Buffy regrets the difficulty she's caused," she said, seizing the opening he had given her. "In fact, she's even offered to go home if it means the difference between your presence and your absence." 

"Keh. Buffy again." In the moonlight, she saw him raise his chin. With his hands tucked into his sleeves, he looked like a statue tucked into the fork of the tree. A very angry statue.

But she knew him well enough by now to guess that the stonier his exterior, the more turmoil he felt inside. All she could do was tell him the truth, and hope that it would be enough to sway his stubborn heart.

"I hope you'll change your mind, and come with us, Inuyasha." She stood on tiptoes, stretched out her arm, and closed her hand around the only part of him that she could reach--his bare, callused foot. "But even if you don't, I'll still be your friend. And nothing--not even new friends--will ever change that."

She waited a long moment, but he didn't respond--or move. He was so still that she wondered if he was even breathing. 

She gave his foot an encouraging squeeze, then let go and stepped back. "I'll see you in the morning, then?" 

"Maybe," he mumbled. 

Discouraged, she turned on her flashlight and began to walk back to Kaede's cottage. 

Her heart soared when, after a moment, she heard him dropping to the ground behind her, then the soft swish of his heavy garments as he approached her. 

She stopped walking, but, afraid that he'd retreat again, she didn't turn around right away. 

"Hey, Kagome."

"Yes?" The edge of her flashlight beam touched his cheek, and haloed his hair.

"You shouldn't be walking around in the woods alone at night," he said, gruffly. 

In spite of herself, she smiled. "But I'm not alone, Inuyasha. You're with me."

"Come on," he said, striding past her. "I'll take you back to old lady Kaede's hut."

oo0oo

Buffy thought that Kagome didn't looked nearly as depressed when she returned from her talk with Inuyasha, but she wasn't able to offer much encouraging news, either. The most she would say was that Inuyasha needed time to think.

Then she yawned widely, followed a moment later by Sango. 

Taking the hint, Kaede borrowed futon mattresses and quilts from the other villagers, and within a short time, every inch of the floor inside her one-room cottage was covered in bedding. 

A simple cloth screen separated Miroku's bed from the rest, though Sango's glare in his direction told Buffy that he was probably peeking at them as Buffy and Kagome changed into pajamas and Sango donned her sleeping robe. 

Inuyasha still hadn't rejoined them, though the sound of creaking beams betrayed that he was sitting guard on the roof.

The futon was hard and a little lumpy, but it was clean and it was better than sleeping on the bare floorboards. 

Buffy was tired from another long day, but once the oil-lamps had been extinguished, plunging the inside of the cottage into deep darkness, she lay awake, thinking, as the others settled down.

It wasn't long before she heard the first gentle snores coming from Kagome's futon. Probably Shippou--Buffy remembered the tiny fox-demon curling up next to Kagome before the lights went out. 

_Poor Kagome!_ Inuyasha was behaving like a real jerk, but if Buffy wanted to be honest with herself, then she had to admit that she was partly at fault. Somehow, she had struck out in a major way with the dog-boy, and sent her mission off the rails like an out-of-control rollercoaster. 

She had to find a way to salvage the situation. Had she broken some major cultural taboo? Or maybe he was just suffering from Male Testosterone Poisoning...? 

Did demons even _have_ testosterone? Well, he _was_ half-human. And if the way he looked at Kagome when he thought no one was paying attention was any indicator, he definitely had plenty of boy-hormones. 

_Testosterone...demons...demon testosterone...totally a scary thought_. 

Then, suddenly, a possible solution came to her. But could it really work?

_Well, it can't make things worse than they are now_, she thought, just before she fell asleep at last.

oo0oo

In the morning, Kaede offered them rice, tea, vegetable soup, and grilled fish. It wasn't what Buffy thought of as "breakfast food"--Captain Crunch and coffee were more her style--but it tasted good, and most importantly, someone else had cooked it for her.

In the two years since her Mom's death, Buffy had grown to appreciate any time she didn't have to cook. 

After breakfast, they all wandered outside. 

It was sunny and warm, and Buffy was able to take a good look around. What a difference 500 years made! Instead of modern Tokyo's dense maze of narrow streets and clustered, multi-story buildings, the village consisted of ten or twelve wooden cottages, surrounded by lots of fields and even more trees. 

Armed with a broom, Kaede headed up to the shrine. Kagome and Shippo filled a shallow wooden bucket and washed the breakfast bowls and platters, while Sango picked up the biggest boomerang Buffy had ever seen--it was actually taller than the petite youkai slayer--and started doing what looked like limbering exercises with it. 

Buffy was dying to ask Sango how she fought demons using a giant boomerang, but first, she had to find Miroku and talk with him in private.

Not only was he the only other male in the vicinity, but, based on his words last night, she thought he might be able to offer her good feedback...as long as she stayed out of groping range. 

She found him sitting cross-legged under a tree some distance away. It looked like he was meditating, so she slowed her steps as she drew near, not wanting to disturb him.

But he opened his eyes and gave her one of his cute smiles. 

"I hope I'm not interrupting, houshi-sama," Buffy said, hesitantly. 

"Not at all." He smiled, and moved aside his staff with a musical jangle, motioning her to sit. "I was simply contemplating my good fortune in avoiding dishwashing duty." 

Buffy sank down cautiously, leaving a healthy distance between them. She glanced at his right hand, securely wrapped in dark fabric and wound around with rosary beads. _Was he injured? Or was there something else going on? Maybe the groping wasn't really his fault. Maybe he has evil hand issues..._

"Is there something you wanted to ask me?" he asked, distracting her from her speculations.

"Um, yeah." Buffy explained her plan quickly. It sounded a lot lamer in the daylight than it had in the dark. 

She finished talking, then, propping her chin in her hand, she waited to hear what Miroku had to say. 

"Hmmmmm." His brow creased. 

At least he was taking her seriously. In fact, he seemed to be thinking it over very thoroughly. 

Then, gradually, he began smiling. His grin grew broader and broader, until finally, his big, dark eyes sparking with mischief, he exclaimed, "This may work, Buffy-sama! I only worry whether you are putting yourself in danger?"

Buffy was wondering the same thing. The potential for either--or both--of them to get seriously hurt was pretty high. 

She shrugged. "I can't think of any other way to resolve this. Can you?"

"Given that it's Inuyasha that you're dealing with? Eh, no," Miroku admitted. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Buffy said. She rose, dusting off her jeans. "Look, I'd appreciate you keeping this a secret for now. Inuyasha and I need to work this out in private. There's no telling how he'd react if, say, Kagome was there and he felt like he had to, um--"

"Save face?" 

"Yeah. That." Buffy turned to go. "So, just between you and me, okay?"

Miroku was the picture of Buddhist sincerity as he raised his hand in farewell. "Of course."

oo0oo

Bolstered by Miroku's approval, Buffy got directions from Kagome, and marched into the woods to find Inuyasha. 

Miroku managed to restrain himself until she was safely out of sight. Then, abandoning priestly dignity, he ran to Kaede's hut. 

"You'll never believe what Buffy-sama wants to do!" he said, when his friends were gathered around him. 

"I think we should go and see," Sango said, when Miroku had finished revealing the details.

"Spy on them? Isn't that exactly what Buffy _didn't_ want us to do?" Kagome asked, sharply. 

"'Spying' is such an ugly word for it," Miroku said, piously. "Think of it this way--before meeting Naraku in battle, would it not be the most sensible course to see how tough Buffy-sama really is?"

oo0oo

"Okay, dog-boy," Buffy said, after her initial attempts to talk things out with Inuyasha failed. "I've tried being nice. Now, I wanna get down to business."

She had tried apologizing. She had tried flattery. She'd even tried appealing to his better nature, in hopes he actually had one. 

Now, she just wanted to kick his ass. 

She put her hands on her hips and glared up at him. Infuriatingly, he was draped full-length over a thick branch halfway up a tree, and looked half-asleep. 

He opened one golden eye and looked down at her contemptuously. "What 'business?' Shouldn't you be off somewhere looking for Naraku rather than bothering me?"

"I was thinking of beating some sense through your thick skull, first," she said. "Would a duel make you feel better about coming along? Just you and me?" 

"A duel? What stupid things are you saying now?" Suddenly, he was standing in front of her. And smiling. Unpleasantly.

_Finally, something interesting enough to get him out of that damned tree,_ thought Buffy.

"Here's the deal. We fight, one-on-one, two falls out of three. Winner gets to give the orders. Loser joins the expedition like a good dog-boy," she said. "Well? You man enough to take me on? Without using your sword...or your claws?" 

"Keh!" Inuyasha sneered. He cracked his knuckles, and the sunlight gleamed on the razor-sharp talons tipping each of his fingers. "I'd be _ashamed_ to use these on a skinny little girl!" 

"And you promise you'll drop the prima-donna act and play nice with all of us when you lose? And you'll follow my orders?"

"Who said anything about losing? I'd be more worried about _you_ following _my_ orders if I were you, slayer!" 

_He's actually agreeing to the duel?_ "I'm not saying you can't have an opinion," Buffy continued. "I'm just saying that you don't get to argue with direct orders." 

"Keh. How arrogant." He gave a short laugh. "Very well. Loser follows orders. And don't expect me to go easy on you, bitch!" He showed his pointed teeth in an expression that was more snarl than smile.

"I'd be disappointed if you did." Buffy fell into the relaxed stance of preparing for battle: weight balanced on the balls of her feet, shoulders relaxed. "I'm a Slayer--and it's about time you found out what that means, dog-boy."


	10. Fearless Leader

8 8. Fearless Leader

_Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan_

He was fast--faster than most vampires, thought Buffy as he came at her in a blur of silver and red. 

She ducked his punch and managed to land one of her own, but lost her balance when she overreached in trying to land a second blow. She landed on her butt in the grass, scrambled to her feet, and looked for him. 

He was ten feet away, and picking himself up, as well. At least _she_ hadn't landed on her face! 

"Heh, you're pretty strong--for a human." 

She smiled at him. "And that was a pretty wimpy attack--for a demon."

"Oh, yeah?" And then he was coming at her again, moving even faster now. 

_This is going to be fun_, thought Buffy. It had been a while since she'd encountered an opponent who could give her a run for her money. 

And neither of them was seriously trying to kill the other. 

At least, that's what she hoped. Because Kagome would be pretty pissed off if Buffy slew her boyfriend.

She survived his next two passes, but by a narrower margin than she would have liked. For now, she was fighting cautiously, trying to avoid getting hit while feeling out his strengths and weaknesses. 

Inuyasha's attacks, on the other hand, were quickly gaining in speed and intensity as he realized that his initial efforts were falling short.

Despite his tough talk, he _had_ been going easy on her. Now, apparently, he had caught a clue about what she really was, and was kicking into higher gear. 

She got lucky, and managed to get behind him. Buffy kicked, hard, and felt her foot connect with the middle of his back.

He flew forward, then somehow managed to turn the fall into an acrobatic flip. Both of his hands landed on the ground, and while doing a handstand, he spun round, and came to his feet facing her again. 

And all this in the blink of an eye. 

She kicked at his head, aiming for his ears. They looked soft...and sensitive. She missed, barely even managing to ruffle his hair. 

In return, he landed a blow upside her head that she never even saw coming. The side of her face went numb and bright stars shot through her field of vision.

She stumbled back and blocked another blow with her elbow.

They circled one another warily for a moment or two, both of them panting a little.

"Are you _sure_ you aren't a hanyou?" he asked, suspiciously. 

"I once called my mother a thing of evil, but no," Buffy said, keeping her gaze fastened on his. She had observed that he always looked in the direction of his next lunge, and forewarned was forearmed. Especially given how damned fast he was. "Both of my parents are--_were_--human."

"But I can see your youki when you fight," Inuyasha said, frowning. "Pure humans don't have that. Well, Sango does...but not like _you_."

_Demon aura, eh?_ She wondered whether the demonic energy that the sorcerers had given the First Slayer was the same thing that Inuyasha called youki. _Sort of makes sense_.

"That's interes--" Buffy missed his cue, and only prevented his fist from connecting with her cheek by flinging herself backwards. 

She hit the ground, and rolled. He followed her, and lashed up and out with his foot just as she regained her feet, catching her in the midsection. 

"Ooof!" She folded over, simultaneously trying to breathe while not throwing up. _Tuck, roll, get back on your feet--and, shit!_ His hand was already reaching for her throat. 

She knocked his arm aside, a little wildly, and followed up immediately with a high kick.

He almost went down that time, and she took advantage of the brief respite to regain her feet. _Nearly got me that time_. 

oo0oo

At first, Kagome was glued to the scene unfolding before her. 

The two of them, hanyou and Slayer, were graceful as dancers, leaping, rolling, kicking. They seemed evenly matched, both of them agile and strong, and she was surprised to see how few of their blows actually landed. 

And, to her surprise, Buffy also performed the amazing leaps and flips that characterized Inuyasha's fighting style. Where Inuyasha used his leaping ability constantly to climb trees and cover ground quickly, Kagome had never suspected that Buffy could do the same. 

Her jumps weren't quite as high as his, but her landings were more controlled. 

It was riveting...at least at first. 

After an hour, though, Kagome let herself slide down to the ground. No longer bothering to conceal herself--the two combatants seemed oblivious to all but each other--she sat with her back to a convenient tree trunk. Her thoughts began to wander a bit.

Shippo joined her shortly thereafter. He leaned against her, sucking on one of the strawberry lollipops she had given him. 

More time passed, and neither Buffy nor Inuyasha seemed to be gaining the upper hand. 

She noticed that they were beginning to breathe hard. Inuyasha had discarded his jacket, and Buffy was down to a t-shirt as well. But they continued to circle, lunge, and kick without pausing. Some of their moves were so fast they blurred. 

She glanced at her watch. Two hours so far, and Buffy and Inuyasha had each taken one serious fall. So much for thinking that a duel that was restricted to two out of three falls would be over quickly. 

"Shippo-chan, have you been playing in the bushes again? " Kagome pulled a comb out of her pocket, and untied the fox-cub's thick ponytail. 

He draped himself over her lap, and held still while she combed out the various bits of leaves and twigs from his shining auburn hair. Unusually-colored hair seemed to be a youkai hallmark, she thought, remembering the night Inuyasha had let her comb out his own silver mane.

Sango got up and left for a while, and returning with an armful of items that included leaf-wrapped onigiri, cans of cold tea from Kagome's pack, and a pot of Kaede's leftover vegetable stew. '

Giving the two combatants an assessing glance, she murmured, "I don't think they'll want to stop for lunch," and set about kindling a small fire to heat up the stew. 

Miroku joined them as soon as he smelled the food. 

As they munched away, they heard an occasional oath or growl coming from the clearing, accompanied by the sounds of skin connecting sharply with skin. 

The monk sighed, a rice ball halfway to his lips. "Such energy! A pity that it's directed at so useless a venture."

"I don't think it's useless at all, houshi-sama," Sango said, softly. 

She looked in the direction of the meadow for a long moment, musing. "I believe that no matter who wins today, both of them will get along better from now on. They are both warriors, and a warrior cannot truly respect an opponent with whom he has not fought."

Kagome hoped Sango-chan was right. 

The last twenty-four hours had been very difficult. How could she choose sides between her friends? She had only known Buffy for a few days, but she had grown surprisingly close to the American slayer during that time. 

And then there was Inuyasha...who was rude, violent, jealous, and stubborn...but who could also be kind, funny, and surprisingly compassionate. 

When they had finished lunch, and rinsed out the pot and bowls, Sango produced the rather battered deck of playing cards that Kagome had brought along as a present at the beginning of summer. Those cards had seen a lot of use during their wandering journey around the Japanese countryside. 

They played Hearts and Revolution and even poker for hours. 

During the course of the afternoon, one or the other would get up at intervals, walk over to the clearing, and return, reporting that Buffy and Inuyasha were still at it. 

The sun sank low in the sky, and a cold wind rose. Kagome shivered a little, and pulled her sweater tighter around her shoulders. 

Wouldn't those two _ever_ get tired? 

oo0oo

The sky was orange and the meadow deep in shadow when Buffy went down for the third time. 

She managed to take Inuyasha with her, and the two of them hit the ground, hard, then rolled apart.

Bloodied and exhausted, they sprawled side-by-side in the trampled grass. Neither of them moved for a long moment. 

Buffy could hear her own rasping breath. Everything hurt. It just felt so good not to move. She almost didn't care if she'd lost. 

_Almost_. 

"Heh, slayer. That was your third fall. I win." His voice sounded raspy, too. And he was certainly breathing hard.

Buffy moved her head just far enough so she could see the white fabric of his long-sleeved shirt. "No way, dog-boy. This is _your_ third time, too, and you went down at the same time I did."

"Shit." But he didn't leap to his feet and demand another round. _Thank God_. 

There was a long pause at they both realized that neither of them had won.

"Look," said Buffy, at last, still gasping for breath. "Maybe...we need to...find another solution...to this problem."

"Like what?" Inuyasha asked.

"How about...neither of us...becomes the leader? We'll get...one of your friends...to do it." 

"Not if it means being beaten to a pulp by either of you," Miroku called cheerfully, strolling out from behind a nearby bush. "Are you two _finally_ finished?"

Buffy saw that Sango, Shippou, and Kagome were also making their way from the shelter of the trees along the clearing's edge. They'd probably been there for quite a while, watching. 

_Hope you guys enjoyed the show_. _Because that's all, folks._

"Well? What about it?" Buffy asked Inuyasha. "Wanna call it a draw and declare a truce?" 

She raised herself up on her elbow, feeling as if wet concrete had replaced the blood in her body. With an effort, she lifted one very heavy arm and extended her scratched, grimy hand to him. 

From his position flat on his back, Inuyasha turned his head and stared at her for a long moment. She was sure he was going to rebuff her. 

Then, slowly, he reached across his body and offered his own hand. As his sleeve slid back, she saw that his forearm was covered with reddened bruises. 

He closed his taloned fingers carefully around hers. She noticed that his skin was very warm, almost hot, and his palms were rough with calluses. 

"Truce," he said, then added. "You're a good fighter. For a human." 

She actually got a smile out of him. It made him look...well, nice. Sort of sweet. 

If you could discount the black eye and the fat lip.

Not that she looked any better. She grinned at him, and gave his hand a friendly squeeze. "And you're not too bad, yourself. For someone who isn't a Slayer, I mean." 

"Keh!: he replied, but she didn't think he was really mad. For one thing, he didn't snatch his hand away. 

She held on to him a moment longer, thinking that he was actually a pretty good-looking guy when he wasn't glowering. Even if he did have canines and those doggy ears. 

No wonder Kagome had the hots for him. _Dare I call it puppy love?_

Then she released him, and flopped back down, looking up at Miroku. "Any suggestions, houshi-sama?"

He tilted in his head in the last scarlet wash of daylight, and thought.

"Um, excuse me?" Kagome asked. "What if we draw straws? That would be fair wouldn't it?"

"An excellent suggestion, Kagome-sama." He moved closer to her, and Buffy saw Kagome back away. _Evil hand. Bad monk_.

"Sounds good to me," Buffy said, closing her eyes. She wondered if she could make it all the way back to Kaede's cottage tonight. Staying here and sleeping under the stars tonight was looking awfully good...maybe if one of the others brought her a blanket and a pillow...

She must have dozed off for a moment, because suddenly Miroku was kneeling at her side, offering her a fistful of grass stalks from his evil hand. She could barely see them in the fading light, so she plucked one at random. 

He rose, and offered them to Inuyasha next, then moved on to the others. 

oo0oo

Kagome took the second-to-last stalk, and, heart pounding, waited to see what the others had drawn.

"Long," said Shippo, holding up his stalk.

"Long," said Miroku.

"Long." Buffy had managed to sit up. She tossed her piece of grass onto the ground. It was hard to tell whether she sounded disappointed or not.

Kagome's heart leapt. It was going to be Inuyasha! She was so glad--

"Long," he said, in a tone of disgust.

Now, everyone was looking at _her_. Slowly, Kagome uncurled her palm, feeling sick. If no one else had drawn the short stalk of grass...

She stared down at hand in horror. 

Her blade of grass was definitely much shorter than the others. 

"Oh, no." 


	11. Hard Won Lessons

9 9. Hard-Won Lessons

_Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan_

"But, I--I can't be the leader!" Kagome protested, and Buffy saw that she was holding the winning stalk of grass in a death-grip. "What if I decide to walk in the wrong direction?"

"If I think you're walking in the wrong direction, I'll tell you, moron," grumbled Inuyasha. But he moved to stand protectively at her shoulder.

"But what if someone gets hurt--or killed?" Kagome looked around, pinning each of them with her panicked gaze in turn. "It'll be _my_ fault!" 

"No, Kagome-sama." Miroku lifted his hand in soothing gesture. _He's really a pretty good people-person_, thought Buffy. _When he isn't being a lech._ "If, the gods forbid, the worst should happen, we will pin the fault where it rightfully belongs--on Naraku."

"I know you'll do your best, Kagome-chan," said Sango, with a brisk nod. 

"Yeah, you'll do fine. Don't worry about it," Buffy said, because it seemed her turn to offer a pep talk. Privately, she had some doubts. Kagome was a nice girl, but what if she froze up under pressure? "And, like Inuyasha said, it's not like we won't be offering advice. All you have to do is decide whether to take it." 

Kagome took a deep breath, and raised her chin. "Then, I guess my first decision is which direction we should walk in the morning."

_Atta girl_! 

"See, it's not so hard, Kagome!" Shippou said, leaping to his usual perch on her shoulder. "At least, now that you're the leader, you won't hit me as often as Inuyasha woul--OW!" 

Inuyasha's fist sent the little kitsune tumbling to the ground, where he took hasty refuge behind Miroku's long gown. "Kagomeeee! Make him stop!"

"Osuwari!" she snapped.

And Inuyasha plummeted face down just in front of Kagome's feet. 

After a moment, the spell wore off enough for him to lift his face out of the ground. "Kagome! What the hell?" he asked, in a querulous tone.

"See?" Buffy knew she was pouring gasoline on the fire, but she just couldn't help herself. "You're already taking charge."

oo0oo

As Buffy had predicted, it was a long walk back to Kaede's hut. 

Inuyasha was moving slowly, too, but it still seemed like he had more energy left than Buffy. She glared at his oblivious, red-clad back as he strode along ahead of her, Kagome at his side. 

Of course, given the way that Kagome was smiling up at him, maybe he had more motivation to look alive. 

_Keh!_ she thought, experimenting with his favorite phrase. It was short. Expressive. She kinda liked it. 

Womanfully, Buffy managed to stay on her feet until she had ducked through the doorway, noticing as she did so that the split-bamboo curtain had been replaced. 

It was pitch-black inside the cottage, so she felt her way to the edge of the raised wooden floor, removed her shoes with a sigh of relief, then groped her way to the nearest floor cushion. 

Kaede was gone. 

"Probably tending to Mariko-san," Sango said, somewhere to Buffy's left. "When we left this morning, the baby hadn't come yet. Oh, thank you, Shippou-chan," she added, as the fox-cub entered, his arms filled with sticks of wood, followed closely by a flashlight-wielding Kagome. 

Sango stirred the banked fire, and began coaxing it back to life. As the flames rose, Kagome switched off her flashlight to save the batteries. It was still pretty dark inside the hut, but at least Buffy could see everyone's faces now. 

She stretched out on her stomach, and propped her chin up on her hands. _That settles it. I'm not going anywhere else tonight. Even if a horde of giant demons attack. What the hell, Mr. Spunky over there can handle it. _

She threw a resentful glance over to Inuyasha, who was sitting cross-legged in his usual place, back against the wall, sword propped up against his shoulder. He looked suspiciously alert. 

_What, he's recovered already? I so dislike him_. She still felt like she was trapped in an invisible pool of chest-high water, which slowed every movement.

Kagome opened her pack, and produced two folded maps. She spread them out on the floor next to the hearth as Sango rose gracefully, pulled a flaming twig from the fire, and lit a couple of oil lamps.

One of the maps was of feudal Japan, and it looked like it had been photocopied from a history textbook. The other map was the regular kind, and it was of modern-day Japan. 

Everyone gathered around. Miroku's eyes grew huge as he sat down and perused the modern-day Japan map. "There are so many villages! And cities!" 

"No more forests?" Inuyasha asked, leaving his post. He bent down and peered over Miroku's shoulder. "Everything looks like your home village, Kagome? Buildings--streets--_cars_?" He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"Not all of it," she said, looking a little uncomfortable. "There are quite a few national parks, with forests and mountains and lakes---"

"Parks?" Inuyasha looked horrified. 

"And how do you grow enough rice to feed everyone?" Sango wanted to know. 

"Well, we import a lot of food--" Kagome and Buffy spent the next half-hour explaining some of the oddities of the modern world, with frequent reference to the national statistics chapter of Buffy's Lonely Planet guide. 

In a world where travel was limited to the distance you could cover on foot or horseback, it did sound inconceivable that most food was imported from countries that didn't exist yet, and even if they did, it might take weeks or even months to sail there in this era.

Finally, Kagome steered the course of the conversation back to their quest for Naraku. 

Buffy borrowed a highlighter pen from Kagome. "Where does Naraku like to hang out? Where has he been seen before?"

Interrupting each other frequently, Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha told of their various encounters with the über-demon.

It wasn't as easy to mark those locations on the map as she had thought. Most of their directions were couched as _it was a two-day walk from_ _Tanaka-sama's mansion_ and_ it only took Kirara an hour to fly there from that little fishing village on the coast_. 

Luckily, Kagome was able to fill in a lot of blanks--she had apparently been keeping track of their wanderings with the feudal-Japan map. Once Buffy had finished highlighting Naraku's guesstimated locations on the modern-day map (which included mountains, rivers, and lakes missing from the feudal-Japan map), Kagome smoothed out the map and studied it. 

All of the dots were clustered in a rough arc to the northeast of Kaede's village. 

"Sango-san, when we first got here," said Buffy. "Shippou told us that you and Miroku had been fighting swarms of youkai trying to get to the well."

Sango nodded. "I am sorry we did could not kill them all. And I'm so glad Inuyasha was on the other side to defend Kagome-chan and her family."

Inuyasha tucked his hands into his sleeves with a smug expression. "Eh, they were big and dumb."

"What direction were the swarms coming from?" asked Kagome. 

"From the direction of this mountain," answered Sango, putting one slender finger on the map just south of Naraku's last known location. 

"Then--then that's the direction we should go!" Kagome said, but she looked at Inuyasha for his approval. 

He nodded. "If that bastard Naraku is anywhere near there, I'll sniff him out." He craned his head and looked at the map one more time, shaking his head in disbelief.

Then he stood up and went outside, presumably to hang out on the roof. _More like a cat than a dog_, Buffy thought. 

As he left, she heard him mutter: "_Parks_. Keh!" 

oo0oo 

Thankfully, everyone went to bed shortly thereafter. Perhaps Buffy's increasingly frequent yawns were the tip-off that it was bedtime, but no-one protested. Even for the non-combatants, it had been a long day. 

_Nice thing about the Sengoku-jidai--they don't believe in pulling all-nighters_, was Buffy's last thought before sleep overtook her.

In the morning, they shared Kaede's breakfast, supplemented with ramen from Kagome's pack. Inuyasha seemed especially fond of the salty noodles, and slurped down his portion in record time.

Then they packed up and headed out. They were an odd convoy of two bicycles loaded with packs, one dog-demon, a Buddhist monk with jangling staff, a small boy with a large fox-tail, a petite girl carrying a boomerang taller than she was strapped to her back, Kagome, Buffy, and Kirara. 

Buffy had noticed the little cat-creature hanging out with the group, and heard references to her during various stories, but Sango's pet hadn't seemed anything but a weird, two-tailed cat. She begged for morsels of food, liked having her tummy scratched, and generally acted like a nice, mostly-normal kitty.

Now, with a roar of flames, she transformed into something that looked like a giant sabertoothed cat. Buffy couldn't help staring as Sango got on her back. 

"I'll scout out a place for us to camp tonight," she called over her shoulder as the fire-cat sprang into the air. Then, with a whoosh and the distinct smell of sulfur, the two of them were airborne and rapidly fading into the distance. 

"Hurry up! " Inuyasha called impatiently. He was already several hundred yards ahead of them, and had apparently forgotten that he wasn't the leader. 

"I hope Sango finds a place near some hot springs," Kagome remarked to Buffy, as they climbed on their bikes. "I'd really like to soak in a bath tonight."

"Amen," said Buffy.

oo0oo

After a good night's sleep, Buffy had woken up feeling mostly recovered from her all-day match against Inuyasha. Still, she was glad that the group seemed to be taking it relatively easy. They covered about twelve miles that first day, and only the last two sections were uphill. 

It was pretty countryside--rolling hills, fields, and lots of trees. Some were already showing autumn foliage, and stood out against the darker evergreens like bursts of yellow and red fireworks. 

_Finally feels like a vacation_, thought Buffy, pedaling along at a moderate pace. 

When they stopped at the base of some hills in the late afternoon to cook dinner and camp, Kagome was happy to hear that there were, indeed, hot springs nearby. They ate a quick meal--ramen again, supplemented by grilled fish, thanks to Inuyasha, who had returned from a nearby stream with his hair and his kimono soaking, and a string of flopping prizes slung over one shoulder.

The biking had loosened up Buffy's muscles, and reminded her that she hadn't had a regular practice session in a while. 

As Kagome pulled out a pack of playing cards, Buffy leaned over to Sango. "Sango-san, there's still at least an hour of daylight left. How do you feel about practicing swords with me?"

Sango brightened. "That would be wonderful, Buffy-san! I'm a little weak in sword technique."

Buffy stood up. "Sure--and willl show me how to work that boomerang of yours? I've never seen anything like it."

"It's made from youkai bone," Sango said, proudly. To Buffy's surprise, she untied the belt of her long robe, and slipped it off. Underneath, she wore a close-fitting, high-collared outfit that looked like a leather jumpsuit. It was reinforced at the shoulders, knees, and elbows with dull gray plates. 

"Armor made from the tanned hide of a snake youkai, with centipede-shell armor," Sango explained. "The people of my village are--were--youkai slayers for generations. We let nothing go to waste."

"I can see that." Buffy said, wondering what Sango's people did with the youkai who looked human. _Like Inuyasha_. "Does that armor really work? It looks sort of thin..." _And really form-fitting. Miroku looks like he's going to start drooling any second now_. 

Sango nodded. "It's nearly as strong as the metal kind. It can be pierced, of course--arrows are the most dangerous. It's not quite as strong as Inuyasha's armor, though." 

"He's got armor?" Buffy thought back. She hadn't detected any armor under his clothing when they fought.

"His robes are woven from fire-rat fur," Sango explained as she walked over to where her boomerang was propped against a tree. "They protect from weapons, but also protect from burning."

_And there I thought he wore that red kimono-thingy all the time because he had limited fashion sense!_

Buffy untied the sword that Koji had lent her from the frame of her backpack, but left the naginata where it was. 

Together, she and Sango walked to a clearing some distance away from the campsite. They left Shippou, Kagome and Miroku playing cards next to the fire. Inuyasha was sitting in the fork of a tree overhead, but as Buffy and Sango left, she noticed him looking at them.

He didn't say anything, though, so they kept walking.

The boomerang was unwieldy at first, and heavy. Sango showed her how to grasp the straps on either end, and how to throw it in just the right way to achieve lift, spin, and return. 

Buffy's first few attempts ended with the boomerang going straight down into the ground (where it proved surprisingly difficult to pull out again--the edge had been honed knife-sharp) or embedding itself in the trunk of the nearest tree. But Sango was a patient instructor, and by the fifth try, the boomerang was sailing around the meadow--a little wobbly-looking, yeah, but at least it was flying. 

Then came the hard part: learning how to catch it again without losing fingers. You had to relax as the large, sharp blade came whooshing back to you, then reach out, and grab the rough rope strap at just the right moment, whirl around, and release the boomerang again..

"Don't duck!" Sango repeated over and over again, but reflex was a hard thing to overcome. "Fling it smoothly! Smoothly!"

Finally, everything clicked into place, and Buffy got the rhythm of fling-catch-release. She did it twice more, just to prove she could, then brought the boomerang--named Hiraikotsu--down gently. 

"That's very cool," Buffy said, handing it back to its owner. "I bet you get a high kill rate with this thing." 

Sango nodded. "It's very useful against swarms of youkai. For a single youkai, especially the smaller, faster ones, a sword is more effective." She looked over to the edge of the meadow. "Inuyasha, would you like to practice swordplay with us?"

Absorbed in mastering the basics of boomerang slaying, Buffy hadn't even noticed he was standing there, watching them. 

He stepped forward, and drew his sword. In the last rays of the sun, it looked even rustier and banged-up than Buffy remembered. 

"Two against one?" He sounded like he liked those odds.

Sango nodded, drawing her own sword. "Your technique needs work. You shouldn't always rely on Kaze-no-Kizu." 

_Wound of the wind? What the hell is that?_

"You talk big, slayer," he said, lunging forward with a wolfish grin. "But let's see you try to touch me!"

They circled round and round, thrusting, cutting, parrying, and Buffy noticed that Sango was right: he was sloppy in his technique, relying on brute strength to fend off her attacks. 

Despite her claim to the contrary, Sango was very good--her strokes fast, supple, and smooth. 

But was she a true Slayer, the Chosen One of her generation? How much of her skill and strength was the result of long training? How much was raw potential? 

Inuyasha turned his face in Buffy's direction as he parried an overhead blow. "What are you waiting for, foreign slayer? I thought you wanted to practice!"

She unsheathed her sword. "Okay, but you asked for it, dog-boy!"

It was fun. 

Inuyasha was fast enough that Buffy soon stopped being quite so careful--the news that his kimono-thingy was actually armor helped in that respect. She and Sango quickly fell into a teamwork rhythm, one lunging while the other parried, each taking a side to attack.

Then Sango vaulted neatly over Inuyasha's head, easily achieving a height no ordinary girl could, and Buffy was sure that she was indeed, a Chosen Slayer._ I really, really need to sit down and talk with her._

But for now, there was just the total concentration needed for dancing with two partners and three very sharp weapons...or, if Inuyasha's sword was anything to look at, two very sharp weapons, and one dangerously dull and rusty one. 

_Yeah, that would just suck. The Slayer done in by tetanus, thanks to the dog-boy_. 

The fading light forced them to stop, finally. They stood in the middle of the clearing, grinning at one another, breathing hard. 

Buffy felt great--tired, but relaxed and energized at the same time. She told herself she was going try and get the others to practice with her every evening that she was here. 

Sango sheathed her sword. "Inuyasha, your technique really sucks, but you've got such great control," she said. "You managed to give us both a really challenging match while still restraining yourself. Thank you." She bowed to him, smiling broadly.

_Restrained himself? But I could have sworn he was going full out! After all, I saw him do it yesterday_, thought Buffy. An awful suspicion began to form. "Sango, what did you mean, restraining himself?"

Inuyasha stiffened. "It's noth--"

"Oh, Inuyasha is very, _very_ strong," said Sango, cheerfully oblivious to the Look of Death that Inuyasha was issuing in her direction. "I've seen him tear a giant demon apart using only his claws, and carry a boulder the size of a house. And then there was the time he killed an entire troop of bandits who were attacking a village--"

"Shut up, Sango," growled Inuyasha. 

She fell silent as he turned away, hunching his shoulders. 

"Sango, would you excuse us please?" Buffy could scarcely hear herself speak over the sudden buzzing in her ears. _Restraining himself! That bastard!_ "I need to speak with Inuyasha--privately." 

Without waiting for the demon slayer's reply, she took the hanyou by his elbow, her fingers clenched in the material of his jacket, and tugged him in the direction of the trees. He didn't look happy, but he didn't resist her, either.

"You--you--" Buffy took a deep breath and looked up at him. He was easily a head taller than she was. _Calm down_, she told herself. _You're a grownup. You can handle this_. "You went _easy_ on me?" 

"Keh!" he said, not meeting her eyes. "What are you talking about?" 

He wove his fingers through his hair in a gesture that Buffy had come to interpret as a sign of extreme discomfort. 

"Inuyasha!" She hated yelling, she really did. It meant that she'd lost control of the situation. "Just _how_ strong are you?"

He sighed deeply, seemed to come to a decision, and marched over to the nearest tree. Its trunk was wider around than she could circle with her arms. "Get out of the way." 

She measured the tree with her eyes, and retreated. _No way. There's no way he's gonna be able to--_

He squatted, wrapped his arms around the base of the tree, and dug in his talons. Then, with an explosive grunt, he straightened up. 

Taking the tree with him. 

Dirt and fallen leaves erupted from the ground as the roots emerged, their clenched fingers still gripping handfuls of soil as if reluctant to let go. 

He turned, pulling it free, then, with a guttural shout, heaved the tree into the clearing that she'd just vacated. It crashed down with a deafening roar of cracking branches. He stood, panting for a moment, then grinned at her with his usual cockiness. 

"You _did_ go easy on me," she said, dully. 

"Eh, maybe a little." He was smirking now. As he had every right to.

In fact, he had probably been laughing his ass off at the whole idea of a duel.._.Except_... 

_Except he fought to a draw_. "Why? Why didn't you just kick my ass? You could have done some serious damage with just that first punch. You could have _killed_ me before--" 

"I don't like to kill humans," he said, vehemently, and wiped his hands convulsively down the sides of his trousers. _Bad memories_? "And I'd _never_ hit a human at full strength."

Dear God, she had, finally, met a demon stronger and faster than a Slayer. It was only sheer luck that he had some kind of ethical code.

As the truth sank in, Buffy crossed her arms and tried to look tough. She hoped he hadn't noticed her hands trembling. _Damn it!_ _If Inuyasha can do this much, then what can Naraku do? _

"So, um, are you like, the strongest demon in Japan?" she asked, cautiously. 

He shook his head. "I'm only a hanyou. My asshole brother is a pure-blooded youkai. And he _never_ lets me forget it." 

"You have a brother." _It figures_. "But getting back to our duel...why, Inuyasha?"

She hit a nerve there, because his fingers immediately went back into his hair. 

"For Kagome," he said, finally, as if that explained everything. 

And in a way, it did. "You didn't want to make her choose which one of us to listen to--or look like the bad guy by beating me to a bloody pulp?"

"Eh, you're smarter than you look, slayer." He tucked his hands into his sleeves and raised his chin in that annoying way he had of signaling that the conversation was over. 

But Buffy wasn't quite finished. "Well...thank you."

"For what?" She had finally managed to surprise him.

"For--for letting me save face, I guess." _And for not dismembering me._ "And...for being such a good friend to Kagome. She's really worried right now, you know." 

"I know." He kicked at a tuft of grass. "I don't like it when she's suffering. It makes me feel..." His voice dropped until she could barely hear the next word. "Helpless."

So, chivalry wasn't dead...it was just potty-mouthed. Maybe it was the sappy romantic in her, but Buffy suddenly liked him a lot better. "Will you talk to her?"

"What?" His eyebrows--surprisingly dark--flew up into his hairline. He sounded a little...unnerved. "I'm not good with talking. _You_ talk to her! Girl to girl! I'm not a girl. I'm just--"

"Her boyfriend?" 

"No! That's such a stupid thing to say!" But the expression on his face belied his words. 

Buffy sighed silently. _Ah, teen-aged love, tortured and tongue-tied. I wonder how I ever survived it. _

To be honest, she barely had. _At least Inuyasha isn't likely to start killing Kagome's friends if he gets his moment of true happiness_. 

"I'll talk to her, too, if you think it'll help, but Inuyasha--she needs to hear it from you. Whatever you're willing to tell her. " Still suppressing the memories of that dark, bad time with Angel, she turned to go. 

He walked back with her, in silence. 

Strangely enough, it didn't feel like a hostile silence, this time. It felt sort of...comfortable. As if they'd somehow crossed the invisible chasm separating enemy from friend.

Just ahead, the campfire shone orange and red in the gray dusk. Still out of earshot of the others, Inuyasha stopped. 

"Hey, Buffy."

It was the first time he had ever called her by name. "Yeah?"

"I meant what I said. You're a good fighter for a human. Better than Sango, even." He paused, and she knew what was coming. "But I can still kick your ass anytime I want."

"Shut up," she said, cordially. "Or I'll--"

"You'll what?" He gave her one of his rare grins, displaying a lot of sharp white teeth. 

_The better to eat you with, my dear,_ she thought, a little dizzily

"I'll sic your brother on you. You know, the full-blooded youkai guy." Smiling to herself, she started walking again. 

_One...two...three...wait for it..._

"Keh!"


	12. Girl Talk

10 10. Girl Talk

_Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan_

Buffy rejoined the others, deeply unnerved by Inuyasha's revelation. She felt hollow and shaky, like someone had just rung a deep-toned bell deep inside of her and she was still reverberating with the aftershocks. 

Inuyasha leapt up, and landed lightly on a branch a good ten feet above campsite. 

Kagome, Shippou, and Miroku were still playing cards as Buffy let herself drop down next to the fire. Of course, the wind immediately shifted to shroud in her a stinging veil of smoke. She coughed and wiped her watering eyes thinking, _Yeah, it's been that kind of day_. 

She spared a glance upwards, where Inuyasha had settled down. His rusty old sword was nestled in the crook of his arm, and his eyes were closed. 

Her anger returned. He had gone easy on her! She had given their duel everything she had, short of a killing blow, and he had been coasting, exerting himself just enough to give her a good workout. 

In nearly ten years as a Slayer, Buffy hadn't lost very often. Heck, she was still alive, wasn't she? Old, even, for a Slayer. Most didn't make it past eighteen.

But defeat still tasted bitter. Especially when it was at the hands of a skinny, white-haired kid with a big ego. 

"Buffy...san?" Sango knelt gracefully next to her. She was smiling. "Kagome-chan and I are going to bathe in the hot spring. Will you join us?"

Buffy looked up, startled out of her brooding. "Hot water? You don't have to ask me twice, um, Sango-san!"

Miroku looked up from his cards and gave them a dazzling smile. "Do you need someone to wash your back?" 

"Houshi-sama!" Sango raised her fist in mock-threat, and he pretended to cower.

Getting to her feet, Buffy grabbed her soap and towel from her backpack, then followed the lighted circle of Kagome's battery-powered lantern to the steaming pools of water at the base of the nearest hillside.

The three of them stopped in the shelter of some bushes. Sango began to unfasten the clasps along the neck and shoulder of her armor, then stopped. "Did that pervert monk follow us?"

Kagome shook her head. "Last I saw, Shippou was keeping him busy with a puzzle. We should be safe for now."

Following the example of the other two girls, Buffy stripped down, and soaped and rinsed on the banks of the pool before wading in. 

It felt wonderful--hotter than she normally liked it, but it leached the residual stiffness and deep bruising from her match with Inuyasha the day before. 

After a few minutes of soaking blissfully, Buffy looked over at her companions. Away from the guys, this was the perfect opportunity to ask some of the questions that she'd been storing up over the past few days. 

"So, what's the deal between you and the dog-boy?" she asked first, because she had been puzzling over the relationship between Inuyasha and Kagome since she first met them. "Are you two an item, or what?"

"Well, not really," Kagome answered. "I--he--well, it's because of Kikyou!"

"Kikyou?" Buffy slid down in the water a little. "Don't tell me he's already got a girlfriend!" 

Guys never stopped surprising her...after hearing the sad story of Inuyasha the lonely outcast, the last thing she had expected was there was another woman in the picture. "Is she, uh, human?"

"Yes. Well, sort of. It's a long story." Which Buffy recognized as the universal code words for_ I don't want to talk about it_. 

Then, as if in apology for her curtness, Kagome added: "I know that we've become friends, and that he trusts me more than he trusts anyone else." She looked down at the water, intently studying her hands. "But it's just friendship to him."

_I don't like it when she's suffering. It makes me feel...helpless._ Those hadn't sounded like "just friends" words to Buffy. 

Sango was apparently thinking the same thing. "Oh, you really believe that, Kagome-chan? It's not just something you tell him because he's too block-headed to admit the truth?"

Kagome's face, already pink from the heat of the water, grew even pinker in the merciless light of the Coleman lantern. 

When it became obvious that Kagome wasn't going to reply, Sango said: "If friendship is all that lies between you, how do you explain Kaguya's castle?"

"It was just once. And, ever since, he's been pretending it didn't happen," Kagome mumbled. 

"Just once--what?" Buffy couldn't help asking. This was more interesting than she'd thought. 

"I--I kissed him." Kagome whispered. She slid down, as if trying to hide by sinking below the surface of the shallow pool.

"And you think it's just--" _For God's sake, don't even think "puppy love." Don't say it. Don't. _Buffy bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood, and said, "I mean, you think he doesn't return your feelings? Because I--"

"It's more than that," interrupted Sango. "I was there. I saw how that sorceress was trying to turn him into a monster." 

_And that would be different--how?--from the way he usually is?_ Buffy thought, and instantly felt ashamed of herself.

Sango turned to Buffy. "This summer, Kaguya lured us all into a trap, and we were each bound by her spells, and helpless. Somehow, she separated Inuyasha's human half from his demon half, and imprisoned the human part inside her enchanted mirror. What was left was an angry...demon. I think she intended for him to tear us to bits."

"You guys must have really pissed her off. Because that's just--" _Cruel. Evil. Wrong_. Especially for a hanyou who, if Miroku was telling the truth, had just found the first real friends of his life.

"But Kagome-chan managed to break her bonds and go to him," continued Sango. "Inuyasha was nearly transformed by then, all red eyes and teeth--" Her gaze grew remote, and she gave a little shudder. "But she kissed him. And held on to him. And somehow, he managed to call back his--" her voice softened. "His human heart. Because that belongs to Kagome, and as long as she has it in her keeping, he can't ever lose it."

_I knew it!_ thought Buffy. _Just friends, eh? Guys can be really dumb._

"It wasn't--I didn't--I just didn't know what else to do," Kagome said. She spread her hands and shining drops flew from her fingertips. "He was fighting so hard to stop it. I know he's violent, and rude, and jealous, but he's also a good person. Even if he doesn't like to admit it." 

"He's okay," Buffy said, sincerely. "You're totally right about the rude part, but he does care about you guys. And, Kagome--I've seen the way he looks at you. That isn't just friendship, trust me. He wants more, but I don't think he's ready yet."

"How do you know this, Buffy-san? Do you have a--a boyfriend?"

Both girls were looking at her eagerly, as if she was about to reveal the Ultimate Secret to Understanding Men. _As if_!

"Not right now." Buffy looked Kagome's hopeful face, and decided that she needed to tell them at least part of the truth. "I've had three serious boyfriends so far. And two of them were youkai...or, actually, hanyou." 

That was probably the best way to describe vampires, who had once been human, but then possessed by demons at the moment of death. 

Sango didn't bother to hide her shock. Buffy could almost hear her thoughts: _A youkai-exterminator who dates youkai?_

Kagome looked solemn. "What happened to your boyfriends?"

This was the question Buffy had been dreading. "The first one lives in Los Angeles. We still love each other, but he was--is--under a curse. And we can't be together, ever. The second guy couldn't handle me being the Slayer. He tried, he really did, but in the end--" Buffy swallowed. It had been nearly three years now, and the memory still hurt. "He left me, and married someone else."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kagome said. "I didn't mean to--"

"And the last boyfriend?" Sango interrupted, her eyes wide. 

Three boyfriends and a single one-night-stand were pretty conservative by American standards, but Buffy suddenly wondered if she was confessing to being the Sengoku-jidai's biggest slut. 

"The last one...well, I'm not sure I can even call him my 'boyfriend.' It wasn't as simple as that. He was my enemy to begin with. I can't tell you how many times I tried to kill him, and he tried to kill me. Just the usual for a vampire, except he was smarter and meaner than the others."

"What changed?"

Buffy shrugged. _It's a long story_, she thought, ironically. 

When had this conversation become All About Her? Wasn't she was the one who had come here intending to get the 411 on the Inuyasha-Kagome sitch, and to try and figure out whether Sango was really a Slayer?

"I don't think we were ever friends. But somehow, he fell in love with me. And I used him. Then he tried to reform, and ended up dying heroically." Buffy tried to chuckle, and failed. "Just like a movie--except it hurt a lot more. The only thing is--by the end, I think we _had_ finally become friends."

"Oh." Kagome looked really depressed by this. "So, you were unlucky in love because they were hanyou?" 

Buffy laughed. "No, because they were _men_. And I was the Slayer. I wasn't too lucky with the human guy, either. I think," she said, thoughtfully. "That being the Slayer messes you up for relationships. You can't pretend you're a normal girl when all this abnormal stuff keeps happening. Believe me, I tried so hard when I was--" _your age_ "--in high school. I would have sold my soul to fit in. But that wasn't my...destiny, I guess."

Sango leaned forward, as if preparing to ask another question. Then her head snapped up. 

A second later, Buffy heard it, too--a rustling in the bushes that screened the pool. Sango reached down, scooped up a large pebble, and threw it.

"Ow!" Miroku's dark head popped up, his hand clapped over his forehead. Sango had great aim.

Instinctively, all three girls sank down up to their necks in the dark water.

"Houshi-sama, what are you doing here?" Sango asked, her tone like poisoned honey. 

"He _always_ does this," muttered Kagome, water lapping at her chin. She raised her voice. "Pervert!"

He raised his hand and stepped forward with the smarmiest smile Buffy had ever seen. "Ladies, ladies. No need for violence! I was only keeping watch in case something happened while you were bathing!"

"And what, exactly, do you expect to happen when there are two youkai-taijya and a miko present? Other than we skin you and turn your hide into a portable bathing screen?"

"Maybe that way we'd have a little privacy for once," Kagome said. "I only had to 'sit' Inuyasha once or twice before he learned not to peep."

"But, Kagome-sama, I only--" He took a step closer, craning his neck.

Sango picked up another pebble and held it up threateningly. "Leave! Shoo!"

As Miroku hastily beat a retreat, Buffy caught sight of Sango's back and inhaled sharply. The smooth skin was raised and knotted with terrible scars that writhed between her shoulder blades. Smaller white indentations puckered her ribs, torso, and hips. 

Sango looked over her shoulder, caught Buffy's horrified expression, and sat back down abruptly.

"Youkai attack?" Buffy said, since she couldn't pretend not to have seen. She had her own collection of battle-scars, if Sango wanted to play show-and-tell. 

"You could say that." Sango bowed her head. "We--my father, my brother Kohaku, me, and most of the slayers from our village--were summoned by a local lord to his castle, to exterminate a spider youkai." Her expression grew closed, and she stopped speaking for a long moment. 

When she continued, her voice was husky, as if strong emotions had rubbed her throat raw. "It was an ambush. All--all of us were attacked. I saw my father die. I saw...everyone...die. First, there was a--a chained scythe." She drew a sobbing breath, but didn't cry. "Then the guardsmen shot us with arrows, to make sure we were dead."

"Oh, Sango-chan!" Kagome covered her mouth with her hand. She obviously hadn't heard this part of the story before.

"But you didn't die," Buffy said, an uneasy prickle traveling up from the base of her spine. 

Sango's straight black hair fell forward to hide her face. "When I woke, I was in a grave. I should have been dead, but I wasn't. I don't know why!" She took a long, rasping breath. "And so I--I dug my way out. And started looking for my revenge."

"So _that's _how you came to be so badly injured when we met you," Kagome murmured.

Despite the hot water, every hair on Buffy's body stood upright, and a cold shudder clawed its way through her gut. 

_That first gasp of air, thick and stinking with decay. Smothering darkness pressing in on all sides. Knowing she had to get out of--of her coffin. Kicking and punching with all her strength, slippery cloth tangling around her fingers, and wood splinters shredding the skin of her hands and arms. Pushing upward through damp soil and thick roots, desperate for the sight of sun and blue sky. Emerging finally into darkness and fire, the very vision of Hell_... 

_God, I'm going to be sick_, Buffy thought, desperately clamping her lips together as the long-suppressed memories rose in a roil of nausea and sour terror. _Oh, God. Poor Sango_._ Not her, too!_

"Buffy...san?" asked Kagome, with a slight frown. 

"It's nothing. Just a bad memory, "Buffy said, still clenching her teeth. "Sango-san, who did this to you?" She reached out and very lightly traced the path of the longest scar, which ran parallel to the delicate knobs of her spine.

"Naraku. Of course." Sango's head snapped up. Her eyes were as cold and hard as polished obsidian. "I am going to find him. And I am going to kill him."

Buffy nodded, grimly. So did Kagome. Her usually-friendly face looked determined.

That reminded Buffy of her original intent in sharing a bath with the girls. "Sango, you managed to survive and recover from a wound that would have killed anyone else. Tell me, did you ever notice while you were growing up, that you were stronger--a lot stronger--than the other girls in your village? Or even the boys?"

Sango blinked. "How did you know? It happened all of a sudden, about two years ago. One day, I woke up, and I felt really...powerful. Father said it meant I was destined to be a youkai-taijya."

"He was right. What about injuries? When you get hurt, do you heal faster than other people?" Buffy pressed. 

"Y-yes. Even broken bones only take two or three days. Do you know why?"

"'One girl, in all the world, to fight the vampires, the youkai...'" Buffy quoted, and smiled at Sango. "It means that you're the Chosen One of this generation, Sango. Just as I was the Chosen One for mine..."

"What does that mean?" Kagome asked, looking from one to the other. 

_Duty.Bloodshed. Heartache. A lot of heartache. Fighting a never-ending parade of demons, until one day, you meet one who's stronger and faster and meaner. _

_Death is your gift. Your destiny. _

"It means," said Buffy, "that if she says she's going to kill Naraku, then she will. She's not only a slayer, she's _the_ Slayer." She turned back to Sango. "Do you have a Watcher? Someone who trains you? Someone who's studied all about the different kinds of demons, and mystical lore?"

"I was trained by my father," Sango said proudly. "He was the son of a youkai exterminator, and the grandson of one. My family descends from the first youkai-taijya, who was trained by the great demon-slaying miko Midoriko herself." Her expression grew sad. "I am the last one, now."

"So, no Watchers in Japan," Buffy mused. Still, Sango seemed to have done pretty well despite the lack of tweed and mildewy books. 

"But you have us, Sango-chan!" Kagome exclaimed. "We can be your watchers! Inuyasha already lets you practice fighting with him! And Miroku-sama knows all about spells and demons! And I'm--I'm a miko. Maybe not as powerful as Midoriko, but I can learn!" 

Buffy smiled. She'd promised Inuyasha that she'd give Kagome a pep talk, but it didn't seem necessary now. The girl had snapped out of her funk as soon as someone needed her. _Just like a real leader_. 

"You've learned something it took me a long time to figure out," she said to Kagome. "That it doesn't matter how strong or fast you are. The most important thing a Slayer--or a leader--can have are her friends." 

"Friends like you, Buffy...chan?" Sango said softly.

_Chan?_ A warm feeling slowly filled the cold, hollow place in Buffy's middle. When had she graduated to _friend_ in these girls' eyes?

_"_Yes, like you,Buffychan," echoed Kagome. She stood up. "Ooh, my knees are wobbly. I think we've been in here a long time." 

Kagome wasn't the only one whose legs were feeling pleasantly rubbery after the prolonged soak. Buffy found herself staggering a little as she followed the other two girls out of the water.

She felt really relaxed. And absurdly pleased by having graduated from _Buffy-san_ to _Buffy-chan_.

Even Inuyasha had called finally her by name, instead of _hey, foreign slayer _or _hey, bitch, _she thought, vigorously toweling herself off. 

Maybe this hadn't been such a bad day, after all. 


	13. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

11 11. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

_Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan_

Kirara smelled them first. 

Kagome and the others had been walking for about two hours that morning. The landscape had changed, becoming rockier and steeper, and a forest crowded both sides of the narrow road. It was a beautiful autumn day, mild and sunny, with only a few high clouds overhead. 

She was so glad it wasn't raining--paved roads weren't common in the Sengoku-jidai, and it was awful when you had walk for miles, knee-deep in mud. 

Plus, she had forgotten her umbrella.

Trotting along at Sango-chan's heels, Kirara froze, sniffing suspiciously. Then, in a whoosh of flames, the tiny cream-and-black double-tailed cat transformed into her giant firecat form, and her growl became a full-fledged roar.

Inuyasha, who was striding along several hundred meters ahead of them on the narrow trail through the forest, also came to a halt.

"Youkai coming!" he shouted back over his shoulder, and returned to the group with a single jump, landing gracefully in their midst.

"Where?" Miroku-sama shouted, looking around. He gripped his staff with both hands and swept it around in a defensive posture.

Kagome stopped her bike, dismounted, and pushed it off the road. She leaned it against the nearest tree, and hastily strung her bow. 

Buffy-chan parked her bike as well, and untied the wicked-looking naginata from the frame of her backpack. She moved to stand next to Sango-chan, who had shed her robe to reveal her leather armor. The youkai-taijya had strapped on her sword, and stood with one hand looped through Hiraikotsu's throwing strap.

By now, the group had arranged themselves on the verge on either side of the road. Kagome grabbed her quiver, and crossed the road to stand next to Miroku. 

Inuyasha's face was tilted to the sky. Kagome could see his nostrils flaring as he scented the enemy.

"There are lot of them," he said, raising his voice to be heard over the harsh sound of Kirara's growl.

Then Kagome felt it, too--the massed aura of dozens of youkai. The sky seemed to grow dark around them, and she was overwhelmed by the psychic clouds of ravening hunger, seething rage, and the compelling need to reach a destination. 

She pulled the first arrow from her quiver. Tiny, trembling arms fastened around her thigh, and she felt a short body pressing itself against the back of her knees. 

"Shippou-chan." She reached down and rested her hands on his soft hair. "Go, and hide."

"B-but I can help fight!" said the little kitsune, moving around to her side. 

"Keh! You'll be lucky if you don't get eaten, you little runt!" Inuyasha called from the other side of the road. "You're just a mouthful--OW! Let go, bitch! You too, Sango!"

Despite her nerves, Kagome giggled, which earned her a black look from Inuyasha. He was bent over and each of the Slayers had one of his ears firmly in her grasp. It didn't look like they were being very gentle. 

"You really shouldn't scare Shippou-chan, Inuyasha," she said, trying to look serious. "He's not as big and strong as you are." 

_There. Maybe mentioning how strong Inuyasha is will make him feel better_.

"Oh, give me a break," said Buffy, rolling her eyes. She tugged on the ear she was holding. "You heard our leader. Be nice to short stuff over there."

"Shippou-chan is already terrified," Sango said in her usual gentle tone. Her grip looked just as firm as Buffy's, though.

"All right!" Inuyasha shouted. "Just let go of me before those damn youkai get here!" 

"Indeed," said Miroku, mildly. "If they didn't sense our presence before, they certainly know we're here now."

The Slayers shared a glance, and released Inuyasha. 

Then he raised one taloned hand and cracked his knuckles. "I'll remove your hands if you _ever_ do that again." He accompanied this by giving them each a narrow-eyed glare, his abused ears twitching.

Inuyasha liked to make threats, but this one sounded like he really meant it. 

"Sorry," Buffy said, with patent insincerity.

"I apologize for pulling your ears," Sango said, equally sweetly. She stood on tiptoes and patted his head. "Good boy."

Inuyasha growled at her. "And stop treating me like a damned dog!"

Kagome cast a glance down at Shippou's shaking knees. "You can help by hiding, and watching. Call out if you see any of the youkai sneaking up behind us. Can you do that, Shippou-chan?"

"Sure!" said Shippou. He left the road, and sprinted for the cover of the nearest bush. 

Relieved, Kagome watched him go. The fox-cub was brave for his size, but she didn't want him in unnecessary danger. Inuyasha had been tactless but correct in pointing out that Shippou would make a tasty mouthful for one of the bigger youkai.

Then she put an arrow to the string of her bow, and waited. 

As the minutes ticked by, the atmosphere grew increasingly oppressive with the _jyaki_ of the approaching demons. It was getting harder to think, to move.

She ought to be used to it by now. 

So then, why did her heart still pound so loudly, and why were her hands so weak, and the polished wood of the bow feel so slick? She swallowed, hard. 

Then the first giant centipede appeared, marching up the trail. Overhead, Kagome heard the sound of hundreds of insect wings. The vibrating hum made the fillings in her molars hurt.

Everyone tensed, and gripped their weapons, waiting for the moment when the youkai saw them, and changed course to attack. Kagome drew her bow and held it until the muscles in her arm burned from the strain. 

But the centipede youkai--and the spiders, beetles, mantises, and other insect demons that marched and flew behind it--never changed course. They scuttled down the trail, seemingly oblivious to the armed humans, hanyou, and youkai watching them pass.

"Hey," said Inuyasha, his taloned hand clenched around the Tetsusaiga's hilt. "What's going on here? These guys _always_ attack if they smell fresh meat."

"This is certainly very strange." Miroku was frowning as he watched them, some of the youkai passing close enough to brush the hem of his long priest's robes. 

Cautiously, Kagome released the tension on her bow. She kept the arrow against the string, though, just in case she had to draw again. Like the others, she found herself unable to look away from the misshapen procession.

There was something about them...something important... 

_Oh, no!_

She drew her bow, rousing the power that usually lay sleeping just below the surface of her mind, and released. Her arrow flared with purifying fire as it hit a large moth-youkai. 

The demon-insect spiraled down, blackened and smoking. Before it hit the ground, Kagome had nocked a second arrow, and was taking aim at at a large wasp youkai.

"What are you doing?" Sango shouted. 

_Don't they realize?_ "They're headed for the village," Kagome screamed, pulling her bow. "And the shrine! We have to stop them!"

Saying out loud made it suddenly and terribly real.

Her concentration fractured by panic, this time her arrow went wild, sailing harmlessly between two airborne wasps.

"Sango, you and I, up in the air!" Inuyasha commanded, drawing Tetsusaiga. "Buffy and Miroku, cover the ground. Kagome, your arrows!"

Buffy brought her naginata up to ready position. Then she stopped. "If that's okay by you, Kagome," she said, pointedly.

"What the hell--oh." Inuyasha scowled. "Kagome?"

"Of course," Kagome said hastily. "It's what we always do. _Hurry!_"

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled, launching her boomerang. It scythed through the swarm, and gobs of bug parts began to rain down. She caught it, vaulted onto Kirara's back, and they took off, sailing above the treeline to wreak further havoc on the swarm.

Inuyasha brandished his sword, and it transformed in a blinding golden flash. 

"Kaze-no-kizu!" he shouted, sweeping Tetsusaiga in an arc around the front of his body.

The youkai in the path of the Kaze-no-kizu simply disintegrated as the white-hot energy swept over them. Tree limbs all along the road splintered and fell to the ground in a shower of sparks. 

As always, Kagome felt the shockwave travel through her, every nerve in her skin tingling as if she'd been subjected to a mild electric shock. 

Buffy paused in her ruthless hacking of an earthbound centipede youkai. "_That's_ Kaze-no-kizu?"

"It can kill a hundred youkai with a single blow," Kagome yelled back, fitting another arrow to her bow. 

She saw a large praying mantis demon swoop down behind Inuyasha, and aimed for it. 

The hooked forelimb slashing for his back disappeared in a burst of purifying flame. The mantis-youkai screamed, a high, piercing sound like the screech of chalk against a blackboard. Whirling in mid-air, Inuyasha decapitated it with a single blow from his sword. 

Kagome loved watching him fight, his wide sleeves spread like wings as he reached the apex of his leap, and his pale hair streaming out behind him. It was one of the few times when he actually looked happy. 

_He is a born warrior_, she thought, seeing his fiercely joyful expression as he swung Tetsusaiga and released the power of the Kaze-no-Kizu to destroy another group of flying youkai. 

"What the hell do you people need a Slayer for? Even the good guys are way scary in this place," muttered Buffy. She sliced viciously at the hapless centipede youkai as it attempted to scuttle away on its few remaining legs. "And _stay_ down!"

After a few minutes, Kagome noticed a strange thing: none of the youkai were initiating attacks. They moved to evade blows, and snapped or tried to slash the enemies directly in their path, but mostly, they streamed by with single-minded determination, as if drawn inexorably in the direction of the Bone-eater's Well.

Sango, Inuyasha, Buffy, Miroku, and even Kagome exacted a heavy toll from the passing army of insect youkai, but some--too many--were slipping past.

"They're getting away!" Kagome said, despairingly, as the survivors from the first wave of wasp youkai disappeared on the southwest horizon. "What are we going to do?"

"I'll take care of them," Miroku said, grimly. He drove his staff butt-first into the soft dirt of the roadbed, and the chimes decorating the top rang like bells. He raised his cursed hand, and began to unwrap the rosary beads that sealed his Kazaana. 

Then he raised his bared palm in the direction of the escaping youkai. Kagome saw them swept up in a whirlwind of dirt, twigs, leaves, fallen branches, and sucked inexorably into the void that Naraku's curse had created in Miroku's hand. 

She knew that if he used the power of Kazaana too often, it would hasten the day when the void devoured him as well. But today, it couldn't be helped. And Kagome felt extremely grateful for its power. 

_Please, God, let Mama be safe. And Souta. And Grandpa. And Kaede...and everyone. Please keep the well sealed..._

And then it happened. Kagome saw the first of the red-eyed insects swoop down just as Sango yelled: "Houshi-sama! Naraku's poison bees!" 

Miroku said some very bad words. Words that she didn't think a priest ought to know. With frantic speed, he resealed the void, the rosary beads clicking rapidly as he flung them around his wrist and fingers. 

Drawing in those bees had made Miroku deathly ill in the past. And Naraku knew this, which is why he had sent them to escort the youkai swarm. 

_So, he really is behind the attacks on the well!_ Kagome thought. 

Almost without thinking, she launched her next arrow at one of the hand-sized bees. It exploded in a shower of wet fragments, but there were a hundred more buzzing overhead.

Miroku gave an angry yell, and swung his staff. Another three bees fell onto the road, wings still twitching, but Kagome knew it was hopeless. Without the power of the Kazaana, even if they killed a thousand of the swarming youkai, a hundred would still slip past, and continue on to the Sunset Shrine...both here, and in the future.

But still, they had to try. And they did. 

Pass after pass of Hiraikotsu's whirling destruction soon resulted in a thick carpet of dismembered youkai on the forest floor. Inuyasha's Kaze-no-Kizu cleared wide swathes through a sky dark with buzzing bodies, and Buffy and Miroku slaughtered mounds of marching youkai centipedes, millipedes, scorpions, caterpillars, spiders, and other things that Kagome didn't even want to identify.

And Kagome shot arrow after arrow, until her quiver was empty. Shippou emerged from his hiding place when it became apparent that the youkai weren't attacking, and darted in and out of the trees and undergrowth, gathering fallen arrows and returning them to her. 

Kagome accepted them gratefully, reminded painfully of Souta's actions that dreadful afternoon...God, had it only been four days ago? It seemed a year had passed since then.

_Draw, aim, release_. The Band-Aids still on her fingertips protected them from reinjury, though they were still sore. And with every youkai she managed to injure or kill, one fewer would reach the Bone-eater's Well. 

Finally, the swarm of insect youkai slowed to a trickle. Then they were gone. 

Kagome lowered her bow at last, and looked around at her friends. The spaces around Buffy and Miroku were piled high with dead or dying insects. 

And all around them, Kagome saw wings and carapaces hanging from branches like grotesque ornaments and littering the leaf-covered ground between the trees. The air was thick with the choking stink of burned bugs.

But a lot--over half the swarm--had escaped the slaughter, some simply bypassing Kagome and her friends.

She stared at the now-empty sky in blank horror. _Kaede...Mama...Souta...Grandpa...What's going happen now?_

"Come on," said a gruff voice. She lowered her gaze, and found Inuyasha standing in front of her. Tetsusaiga's energies flickered out like an extinguished lamp, and he resheathed his sword with a brisk gesture. "Let's go. It stinks here."

He strode off without looking to see if she was following. 

Numbly, she gathered whatever arrows she could find, wiped bug guts off her bicycle seat with only a faint feeling of revulsion, and pushed off after the others. 

oo0oo

They walked until the air smelled fresh again. 

Then Miroku raised his hand, and everyone came to a halt, arranging themselves in a semi-circle on either side of him. "Kagome-sama, what shall we do now?"

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked. "We have to stop those demons from getting through the well!" Her hands tightened around her handlebars.

"Yes, yes," said Miroku. "But we have a choice to make. We can either turn back now, and try to catch the youkai who escaped before they reach the village, or we can continue on to Naraku's castle, and stop the next attack at its source. Which do you want to do?"

"I--I--" Kagome felt her stomach drop, as if someone had pushed her over a cliff. How could she abandon Kaede and the villagers to face the youkai attack on their own? But having come this far, could they really turn back now?

What had Buffy said, last night? _The most important thing a Slayer--or a leader--can have is her friends._

And they were all friends here. She turned to her oldest friend, first. "What do you think, Inuyasha?" she asked. 

He frowned. "If we go back now, that bastard Naraku will just disappear again. I say we find him and kill him."

She turned to Miroku next. "Houshi-sama?"

He sighed deeply and bowed his head. "Inuyasha has a point, but I fear for Kaede-sama and the villagers. If we used Kirara, we could return quickly, deal with the problem, and then find Naraku."

"Split our forces?" Inuyasha growled. "That's a dumb idea, monk. Plus, that old hag Kaede is tougher that you think."

"Don't. Please." Kagome put her hand on Inuyasha's sleeve. She couldn't bear it right now if things degenerated into an argument. 

He glanced down at her, and subsided. 

"Shippou-chan?"

The fox-cub looked away. "I don't know what you should do, Kagome. I'm just a kid!"

"Sango-chan?"

"I want to help the villagers, but Kirara can't carry all of us, and it would be dangerous to divide our forces," the youkai-taijya said, with downcast eyes. "Especially if we're going up against Naraku. He probably wants us to chase after his bait."

_All those lives in the balance, and just bait to him._ Kagome closed her eyes briefly. "Buffy?"

The American girl gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm with Inuyasha and Sango. We can't do both...and every hour we're delayed, there's a chance that the demons will find a way to break the seals on the other side of the well." 

Kagome felt sick at the thought, and it must have shown on her face, because Buffy quickly added, in a reassuring tone: "Look, I'm sure it'll be okay. Koji's seals are the real thing. They'll hold the well until we manage to retrieve the Portal Key."

Now it was Kagome's turn. They were all looking at her expectantly now. What should she do? What should she say? 

Either way, someone might get hurt. Someone might die. 

Her chest felt tight, and it was suddenly hard to breathe. 

Long-fingered hands tipped with gleaming claws settled on her shoulders, and she felt Inuyasha's breath warm against her hair. He didn't say anything, but his very presence at her back, strong and watchful, steadied her. 

It was suddenly easier to think. 

Kagome reached up, covered his hands with her own, and closed her eyes. One by one, she worked through all the possibilities that had been raised. 

Rush back to save Kaede and the villagers, then face an unending stream of future attacks. 

Rush ahead to find and destroy Naraku, and leave Kaede and the villagers to their fate. 

Send Sango and perhaps Buffy back to the village on Kirara, and proceed to Naraku's castle without two of their strongest fighters.

Only one of these options promised any hope of victory.

She made her decision, hating it. "Let's follow where that swarm was coming from. We--we have to find and stop Naraku as soon as possible."

Everyone looked pleased, except for Miroku. But he didn't tell she was wrong, either.

Inuyasha slid his hands away, still without having said a word, and turned to go. Immediately missing the comfort of his touch, as if she were a small boat adrift on high seas and he her anchor, Kagome pushed her bike forward. It was done. She had made her first major decision as leader. 

But as she walked along, she couldn't stop thinking. _What if we can't find Naraku? What if we can't stop him? What if we return to the Sunset Shrine to find the village in ruins and everyone dead? _

She had seen it happen before on her travels through this time. She knew what could happen. 

_Oh, God. Oh, God. Did I make the right choice?_

oo0oo

Inuyasha was in a worse mood than usual when they broke for camp that evening. 

The others had quickly returned to their usual rounds of riddle-games and rock-paper-scissors for the remainder of the afternoon's walk, but he found himself acutely sensitive to the misery radiating from Kagome. It was as dark as a demon's _jyaki_, and nearly as oppressive. 

Not that she said anything. She simply pedaled along in silence. As if that could hide how she felt. 

But it couldn't. 

Not from him, anyway.

Shippou seemed to sense it, too, and he stayed close to her, riding in the basket of her bike, even though that usually made him feel sick to his stomach. Useless fox-brat. He even got seasick when crossing a lake! 

But his presence seemed to cheer Kagome a little, and Inuyasha was--reluctantly--glad for it.

Inuyasha worked off some of his frustration hunting down dinner, returning with a large pheasant. Instead of being pleased at his prowess, however, both Buffy and Kagome recoiled when he appeared and threw it down at their feet. 

"Ew!" said Buffy, wrinkling her nose. "What are we supposed to do with _that_?"

"Ungrateful!" he snarled, and snatched it up again. Didn't they know anything? Did _all_ of their food come in crinkly packages?

He stalked away to pluck it, sneezing as bits of the downy underlayer drifted up and tickled his nose. 

Sango appeared when he had finished removing most of the feathers, and in her practical way, pulled a narrow dagger from her sleeve and offered it to him. He finished dressing the bird, then returned to the others, displaying the cleaned, plucked, and now headless bird to Buffy and Kagome. 

Occupied in pulling out various packages from Kagome's backpack, they didn't seem to notice. 

The potato chips were gone, but at least there were still a few packages of that delicious dried-noodle-soup left, thought Inuyasha. 

Now, if only Kagome would stop smelling so sour with unhappiness! It was ruining his appetite. 

In short order, the pheasant had been rubbed with salt and spitted over the fire, and a kettle of water was heating over the coals. 

His duty done for now, Inuyasha brushed away the feathers still clinging to his haori, and settled himself down to clean his sword properly. On the other side of the fire, Miroku was doing the same for the sharpened metal blade topping his staff. He passed Inuyasha a small flask of fine sand and an oiled cloth, and the two of them worked in silence, scouring away the remnants of the battle, until dinner was ready.

It was as unpleasant as Inuyasha had feared. 

Even the delicious fresh meat turned stringy and gamy in his mouth as he noted that Kagome wasn't eating. She sat looking down at her plate with the same woebegone expression that she'd been wearing since noon, hunched over as if her stomach hurt. 

Pain radiated from her. 

Dammit. He flexed his claws. He'd kill a hundred more centipede demons if it would make her feel better! But this useless brooding...he hated it. Hated feeling so helpless.

Buffy was watching Kagome, too, her green gaze sympathetic. As her eyes met Inuyasha's, he braced himself for what he knew she was going to say. 

_Talk to her? What the hell would I say?_ He knew he wasn't good with words. He found them useful on occasion, but threats and intimidation were more his style. Used properly, they served as a fine defense against rejection and loss. 

But he had learned to treat them cautiously. Words could be slippery things, like the fish he caught with his bare hands. They could twist and wriggle, and, all-too-often, reveal things you wanted to hide. Kagome was especially good at _that_ game. She could even pull secrets from his silences, so effective with everyone else. 

He hated it. Hated that she could read him so easily now. Hated that he couldn't hide anything from her. 

But Buffy didn't say anything to him, didn't give him the chance to argue himself out of his promise to her. She simply held his glance for a long moment--_you know what you have to do, dog-boy_--then looked down into her bowl, swirling long noodles into eddies of soup.

By the time dinner ended, he knew he had to at least try to--to _talk_ to Kagome. 

And if she got mad at him for saying the wrong thing, then at least he would have distracted her for a while. That might even be worth having her use that fucking "sit" command on him. 

Buffy started briskly gathering up the used bowls. Kagome was still sitting with hers in her hands, the food untouched. 

With a sigh, he rose and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, Kagome."

"What?" she asked, dully.

"Come with me. To...talk. I want to talk to you," he managed to force out. 

If any of them laughed at him, friend or no, he was going to rip the smirks right off their faces.

But no one did. In fact, everyone--even that brat Shippou--was suddenly occupied with doing something. Anything. 

It was almost worse than enduring knowing looks and smirks.

"Okay," she said, in the same lifeless tone, and followed him into the trees, away from the glow of firelight. 

The moon hadn't risen yet, and it was dark under the trees. Inuyasha could see well enough by the faint starlight, but Kagome halted, uncertainly. She was probably completely blind. 

He huffed a little, and looked around to make sure. No witnesses. He reached for her hand, ice-cold despite the mildness of the evening. 

"I'll guide you," he said, softly. 

She closed her fingers around his, trustingly, and his heart jumped, as always when she did something like this. 

_It's not that I'm in love with her_, he told himself, as he pulled her gently along, steering her around rocks and fallen branches. _It's just that she looks so scared. So alone._

He followed the faint sound of water until they emerged on the banks of a nearby stream, lined with huge tumbled boulders. The rocks were still warm from the sun, and Kagome let him guide her to one. 

On impulse, he pulled off his haori and dropped it around her shoulders before lowering himself to sit next to her. The top of the oblong boulder he had chosen was just large enough for them to sit side-by-side, hips and legs pressed together through the thick layers of their clothing.

And now he had to...talk. His mind went blank. _Shit_. "Eh, Kagome..." 

She turned to him. "Inuyasha, it'll be okay, won't it? I mean, Kaede is a miko. She's fought lots of demons before." Her tone was uncertain, pleading.

He nodded. "She has the gift of mystical arrows, even if they're not as strong as yours, Kagome."

"And she has the men of the village to back her up. Maybe they'll take care of the youkai who made it past us today..." 

Inuyasha realized she was trying to convince herself. Was this what she'd been brooding about all day? 

She was still talking, babbling almost: "...and maybe the seals on the well will hold, and I shouldn't be worrying about Mama, or Souta, or even Minamide-sensei."

She fell silent for a long moment. Inuyasha wondered whether this was the part where he was supposed to say..._what_? 

He settled for leaning against her, just a little, so that their shoulders touched.

"But I don't know," she said, at last. "I don't _know_ if I made the right decision. How will I know?"

"Is that what you're worrying about? _Baka_," he chided her, a little hoarsely because something--maybe one of those damned pheasant feathers--seemed to be stuck in his throat. "When you only have a choice of bad things, how can you expect to choose a good one?"

She looked astonished, as if the possibility hadn't occurred to her. "But--"

_Maybe this talking business isn't so hard, after all_, he thought. 

"Kagome, you did what you thought was right." He felt like he ought to say something else, and wished desperately for Miroku's glib tongue. That damned houshi always knew exactly what to say...especially when girls were involved. After a moment, he ventured: "I believe in you. No matter what happens."

"Thank you, Inuyasha." 

She put her head on his shoulder, and he felt every muscle in his body tense. He wanted to take her in his arms...and at the same time, he desperately wanted to push her away. She was dangerous...she might hurt him...might betray him with a poisoned arrow and seal him away again...

_She needed him_. He exhaled, and surrendered, bending his head over hers, letting his cheek rest on her hair. She smelled nice, of fruit-scented shampoo and woodsmoke, and her own, unique, comforting scent. 

_She smells like home_, he realized. Not any of the homes he had known before--however briefly--but simply..._home_. 

He put his arm around her, and drew her against him, so that he could feel her pulse against his skin, and fall into the rhythm of her breathing. He held her close, and thought of nothing in particular.

They sat that way for a long time, and bit by bit, he felt her frantic heartbeat slow to normal, and her breathing gentle. She was still troubled, but the acute sickness of spirit had eased. 

Strangely enough, he felt better, too. 

"Come on," he said, at last, reluctantly withdrawing his arm from her and getting to his feet. 

He gave her a hand up, and somehow, neither of them wanted to let go, so they walked back to the camp palm-to-palm, their fingers entwined. 

_When she's in pain, I am, too_. 

He had faced a lot of scary opponents, seen a lot of bad things. Why did this realization terrify him the way that none of those other things had?


	14. Rattling the Cages

12 12. Rattling Cages

_What did being the Slayer mean, here in the Sengoku-jidai?_ Buffy asked herself. 

Soon after the battle in the forest, they left the road and spent the next two days pushing cross-country. Inuyasha seemed confident of their direction, and he led the way at a rapid pace, often receding to just a red speck a mile or two ahead of them. 

No one was joking or playing rock-paper-scissors now--all of them were focused with grim intensity on the changing landscape, looking for any sign that their enemy was nearby. 

Sango and Miroku rode through the air on the transformed Kirara, the giant firecat keeping pace with Kagome and Buffy on their bicycles. The little odometer mounted on the front axle of Buffy's bike ticked off a steady number of kilometers, but the mountains, rising blue-green in the distance ahead of them, didn't seem to be coming any closer. 

They didn't encounter any more youkai swarms, which gave Buffy way too much time to think as she pedaled steadily along a series of narrow footpaths that led through dry fields and thick woods. 

She always been the Chosen One, no matter how much she told herself she hated being different, being a freak. But she had never doubted her own abilities.

Until now. 

This was a world where most of the youkai and even hanyou were stronger and faster than Slayers. It was only luck that they'd only run across bugs and friendlies so far. All it would take was running into demon like Inuyasha, and Kagome would be bringing bad news back through the well to Koji...and Giles. 

If they weren't all permanently sealed on this side of the time-portal, that was. She didn't dare try returning before she'd gotten Naraku's Portal Key. 

But could she get it? Could she really do it? 

That hadn't even been a question in her mind, until yesterday. 

Inuyasha going easy on her during their duel, well, that had rattled her a little, but she had still felt comfortably superior to the others in the group. She was older than Sango, Shippou, Inuyasha, and Kagome. She was an experienced warrior. She had had boyfriends. She had saved the world, two or three times. 

And, of course, she was the Slayer. 

_Of course_ there was absolutely no question that she was going to defeat Naraku when she met him. She knew there would be a fight. The others might help her. But no matter what, she was the Slayer, so _of course_ she'd win, and get back the Portal Key, meanwhile dispensing her twenty-first-century wisdom to Sango, Kagome, and the others around the campfire, in a buddy-movie kind of way.

_Of course. _

_God, I'm such a moron. _

If she had to, she thought she _might_ be able to kill Inuyasha. _Fifty-fifty chance_. She'd have to use her brains, study his weaknesses carefully, and take him by surprise. But she wouldn't be able to do it the way a Slayer was supposed to--hand-to-hand. 

And that was humbling. _Yeah, I've been cut down to size, all right. _

o0o0o0o0o0o

She was still brooding when they finally stopped and made camp for the night. No hot springs here, but it was fairly sheltered, and there was fresh water nearby. _Ramen again. Oh, goody_. 

They had established a routine by now. Shippou gathered firewood, and Miroku lit the fire using Kagome's matches. Sango and Kagome decided on what to serve from her supplies, while Inuyasha disappeared into the woods to hunt and kill something to supplement the ramen and rice.

Buffy went to fetch water from a stream a few hundred yards away. She quickly filled the kettle and returned, then stopped behind a tree to observe the others. She wasn't sure why the sight of them joking and working together made her feel so blue. 

Inuyasha had returned, his long fingers hooked through the gills of two large fish, and Buffy saw how his face softened at Kagome's pleased smile. 

Since their talk the day before yesterday, he'd been treating Kagome as if he was afraid she would break. 

Not that he was into public displays of affection--dog-boy wasn't exactly the mushy type--but Buffy noticed how he stayed close to Kagome. Watching her. Reassuring her with a glance, a brush of fingers against her as he handed her the fish to clean, and a hand on her shoulder to steady her when she stepped on something and wobbled a bit. 

In Buffy's world, Willow and Xander always had her back. And Giles. But here, she was on her own. Who had her back, in this place? _Sango, maybe_. But she was definitely the odd woman out.

She stepped into view, and put the kettle on its stand over the fire. "Can I help with anything else?"

Sango handed her one of the fish, and Buffy's melancholy retreated a little as she followed the other Slayer's lead in cleaning and scaling the fish, then spitting them to roast over the flames. 

They didn't hate her, she thought as she straightened up, slapping away Miroku's wandering hand from her butt. But she wasn't one of them, either. 

oo0oo

After dinner, there was still enough light left for Buffy and Sango to continue their training together. It was hand-to-hand combat this time. 

When it had gotten too dark to see, they stopped. Buffy rubbed at the bruises on her arms where she had blocked Sango's blows. 

"You're really good at this," she said, a little ruefully. 

"I have to be," Sango said, solemnly. 

"Because everything--and everyone--here is really powerful and scary?"

Sango stopped and turned to Buffy, her face a pale blur in the deep gray twilight. "Buffy-chan, what's been troubling you?"

"Nothing," Buffy said. But Sango simply stood there, and waited. 

"Okay, I've been thinking. A lot. About the fight in the forest the day before yesterday."

"What of it?" Sango asked. 

"I realized something about this time--this place. I just don't fit in here." There. She had finally said it.

"Did you expect to? Haven't you been telling me about what it's like to be a Slayer? Our destiny?" Sango laughed. "It--it feels good to have a destiny again, something to look forward to after we defeat Naraku."

"That's just it," Buffy said. "In my world, the Slayer _is_ something special. Something extraordinary. But here..."

"Are you still angry that Inuyasha held back his full strength with you?"

"Yeah. No. I mean--" Buffy took a deep breath. "It was watching Miroku and Kagome fighting those bugs that got me thinking."

Sango inclined her head. "You didn't know about houshi-sama's Kazaana?" 

_Oh, so that's what they call his evil hand? It's like a mini black hole. _

"I thought he was just a regular guy. And Kagome...well, I know you guys mentioned she was a miko's reincarnation, but I didn't realize..." _Those arrows, destroying all the demons in their path with mystical energy_. 

"But why does this bother you, Buffy-chan? Are you jealous?"

"No!" _Well, not much._ "It's just...I think I miscalculated. Seeing Miroku's--what did you call it? Kazaana?--made me wonder whether Inuyasha was right about being able to find and retrieve the Portal Key on his own. When Koji sent me here, I thought this was going to be an easy mission. Do a little sightseeing, make new friends, kick Naraku's ass."

"And now you have doubts." Sango came close, and touched Buffy's arm. 

"Now...I'm worried. If even Kagome is, like, a powerful sorceress, then how strong is the enemy? And why do you guys need me? It's not like a Slayer is anything special...not in this world." 

"Because you are strong, Buffy-chan. And you make us stronger." 

"Are you sure about that?" Buffy asked. For the first time, she truly understood how Xander had felt, all those years of working together with the Scoobies. _So normal, except for his courage_. "In my world, the Slayer is the strongest, the fastest. But here--here, I'm just kind of...ordinary. 

"Only ordinary because all of us are extraordinary, Buffy-chan."

Buffy sighed.

After a moment, Sango added: "We are all weak when we're alone. Only together are we strong."

That sounded familiar. "Teamwork, right?"

Sango nodded. "At first, I wanted to avenge my father, my brother, my village on my own. I was the last youkai-taijya. It was my duty. But, since then, I have learned that there's no dishonor in taking allies. On the day we defeat Naraku and regain the Shikon-no-Tama, it won't matter if I did it alone, or if all of us together fought and won. What will matter is...victory."

"And friendship," said Buffy, thinking of Willow and Giles and Xander again. 

"Never forget friendship," Sango said.

They began walking back toward the sound of Miroku's laughter. After a few paces, Sango asked: "Will you return to Kagome's kingdom on the other side of the well when you have regained your Portal Key?"

Buffy nodded. "I have--have things to do in my world." _Slayers to train. Australia to see_. _Maybe even another boyfriend, someday. If I survive my visit here._

"Don't forget us, Buffy-chan. And if you should ever want to return with Kagome, you will always have a place with us."

"Thank you," Buffy said. And she meant it. 

oo0oo

The last couple of days had been good ones, thought Inuyasha, sucking shreds of fish from a mouthful of fragile, spiky bones. 

His stomach was full of cooked food. He had a solid lead on where that bastard Naraku was hiding out. And it had been two full days since Kagome had used that fucking "sit" command on him. Even Buffy hadn't been her usual obnoxious self, telling everyone what to do.

Yeah, life was good. 

Inuyasha finished the last of the fish, spat the translucent bones out beyond the range of the firelight, and lay back, arms crossed under his head. He wasn't sleepy, but the girls were busy unrolling their bedding, and he liked watching Kagome bending down. Even if she wasn't wearing her short skirt today.

Besides, he was downwind of her, and her scent was soothing. _Home_, he thought._ Home, and ramen and...wolf_?

He leapt to his feet, just as Kagome raised her head. "Shikon shards. Coming this direction." 

And then he knew. _Shit. _

Buffy grabbed her naginata and peered out into the nighttime forest. "Should I be worried?"

Kagome shook her head. "It's only--"

There was a great rushing sound, and a sudden gust of wind that whipped up the smoke from the dying fire. 

When smoke cleared, Inuyasha saw that fucking wolf-prince standing next to Kagome, leering down at her like he usually did. "Yo, Kagome."

"--Kouga-kun!" said Kagome, looking flustered. 

"Kouga," snarled Inuyasha. "What the hell are you doing here?"

The wolf-prince spared him a single contemptuous glance. "Patrolling the border of my tribe's lands, dogface. What are _you_ doing here? Trespassing?"

"Why you--" Inuyasha's hand tightened around Tetsusaiga, but Kouga, in his maddening way, had already turned his attention back to Kagome. 

He was, in fact, holding both of her hands and looking deeply, possessively into her eyes. 

"Oh--um, Kouga-kun!" she stammered. Blushing. _Blushing!_ "I'm--I'm so sorry if we were trespassing." 

Inuyasha felt a growl starting deep in his chest. Why wasn't Kagome slapping his face? She never had any problems doing that when Miroku groped her! 

Gods, how he hated that wimpy wolf! 

Inuyasha's hatred was strengthened by the fact that, somehow, human women found Kouga attractive. Not for him the looks of fear and disgust thrown in Inuyasha's direction when village girls noticed that his ears weren't...right...or when they saw his teeth. 

Worse yet, Kagome always smiled and blushed at Kouga's slimy compliments, slimier even than Miroku at his worst. She had even forgiven Kouga for kidnapping her!

Even Buffy was wearing _that look_ on her face. That slightly glazed expression.

"Keh!" Inuyasha spat, turning away. But not before he'd noticed that her scent had changed subtly, indicating an interest in mating. _Not her, too!_

How did Kouga do it? Was it because he was a full youkai? Or just because he had an unshakable arrogance? Whatever it was, Kouga was everything Inuyasha desperately wanted to be: smooth, confident, and a leader.

Just smelling that pissy wolf-scent was enough to set Inuyasha's teeth on edge. 

"--we were just, I mean--it's Naraku! It's sort of an emergency!" Kagome was saying. Irritated, Inuyasha noticed that she _still_ wasn't trying to free herself from Kouga's grasp.

Any minute now, he was going to put an arm around Kagome, and try to kiss her. And when that happened, Inuyasha would have no choice. He would have to kill Kouga.

"What kind of emergency? Are you in trouble, Kagome?" That wimpy wolf looked pleased at the possibility, and drew her even closer. _Don't you dare!_ "You know I'd do anything to help my woman!"

oo0oo

_His woman?_ thought Buffy. She wondered if her mouth was hanging open. _Who_ is_ that guy with Kagome? _

The tall, dark, and handsome newcomer was holding Kagome's hands to his chest, an almost comically besotted expression on his face. Buffy noticed that her friend was looking more than a little embarrassed, and but Mr. Handsome wasn't taking the hint.

And Inuyasha was...growling. Actually growling. And his ears were twitching, which Buffy noticed he only did when he was really upset.

She took a closer look at the newcomer. Kagome had called him Kouga-kun, and no one else besides Inuyasha seemed bothered by him, so he must be friendly. 

He wasn't human. He had human features, but he also had pointed ears, and large blue eyes, which gave him an inhuman stare. And he had a wolf's tail sticking out from the back of his very short fur kilt. 

Buffy's glance darted to Inuyasha's butt, thoroughly covered by his baggy armor-kimono-thingy._ I really ought to ask Kagome whether he has a tail, too..._

Then she returned to her assessment of Kouga. _Not human...or not entirely human. Looks young._ _Lots of hair. Ponytail._ _Nice legs. _

_Really nice legs_. Long and tautly muscled. A runner's legs. And not too hairy.

Kouga noticed her checking him out, and to her astonishment, he blushed. 

_Ohmigod! That's so cute!_ she thought._ Must be something in water around here. All the humanoid demons all seem to be hotties_.

She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry if I was staring at you. You know, where I come from, the demon guys are all sort of...warty. Or covered with slime."

"We have those here, too," interjected Inuyasha, without taking his eyes off Kouga. 

_Hoo, boy! If looks could kill!_

Kouga-kun gave her a wide smile, full of pointed teeth. _Of course_. "My Kagome tells me that you're hunting Naraku. In that case, I have some news for you."

"Please, sit down, Kouga-kun," Kagome said, pulling him forward. "Have some tea."

He dropped down to sit cross-legged by the fire. "Hakkagu and Ginta and the wolves should be along in a while," he said. "They're always so far behind."

As Kagome hastily dug for teabags in her pack, Buffy noticed that Kouga wasn't wearing anything under his kilt, and hastily tried to look elsewhere. 

Everyone except Inuyasha sat down around the fire. 

Inuyasha remained standing, his hands tucked in his sleeves and his chin up in the pose that Kagome referred to as his "angry statue" look. 

_Well, Kouga_ was_ putting the moves on Kagome... _

"So, Kagome, what do you know about large clouds of insect youkai traveling south?" asked Kouga, when Kagome had finished brewing a pot of tea. 

He held out his cup, and she poured. "It means that Naraku is launching a new attack."

"But it's also good news," interjected Miroku. "Because we hope to find Naraku's castle by tracing the youkai swarms to their source."

"How many swarms have you seen, Kouga?" asked Kagome, anxiously.

"Three or four in the last two days," he replied, his gaze fastened hungrily on her.

She froze. "We have to hurry, then. I don't know much time we have!"

Kouga cocked his head to the side, and his thick ponytail swung over one tanned shoulder. "Why are you so scared, Kagome? Afraid that dog-face over there won't be able to protect you?"

"I can do a better job than you!" Inuyasha shouted, his golden eyes narrowed to angry slits in the firelight. His hand had dropped to the hilt of his sword.

Kagome raised her hand to stop him. "The youkai aren't after us, Kouga-kun. They're--they're after my family. There are seals in place to ward them off, but I don't know how much longer..."

"Then, of course I'll join you," Kouga said. He took Kagome's hand again. "It's my duty to protect my woman. And her family."

"No way!" Inuyasha said. "We don't need that wimpy wolf! I'll only end up having to rescue his miserable hide--again!"

His words clashed with Kagome's smiling, "Will you really help us, Kouga-kun?"

_Oh, man, now there's a recipe for disaster_, thought Buffy. _Don't tell me that Kagome's really that clueless. Or, maybe..._she glanced over to her friend. Who was still letting Kouga hold her hand, but who was sneaking side-long looks at Inuyasha's glowering face. _She knows exactly what she's doing._

It was an uncomfortable night. 

Two more wolf-youkai showed up, panting heavily from their run. They were introduced as Hakkagu and Ginta, eagerly addressed Kagome as "Sis," to Inuyasha's disgust, and seemed pretty friendly for demons who regularly dined on human flesh.

After a brief explanation, Kouga sent them away to continue patrolling.

Kouga and Inuyasha both insisted on standing guard over the camp. And Buffy, seeing the glares they had been trading all evening, and who was kind of bothered by Miroku's revelation that the wolf-youkai ate people--or used to, before Kouga decided Kagome was his woman--stayed awake, too. 

Just in case. 

She noticed Kagome wasn't sleeping, either. 

oo0oo

The next day, they reached Naraku's castle two hours after noon. 

Not that Buffy could actually see a castle, to begin with. But Kagome stopped her bike suddenly, her gaze fixed on what looked like an empty meadow at the base of the nearest mountain. 

"I sense a barrier," she said. 

Inuyasha sniffed deeply. "You're right. I can smell that bastard Naraku. It's very faint, though."

Kouga nodded. "That's his stench, all right."

Dismounting, Kagome drew an arrow from her quiver. She closed her eyes briefly, as if saying a prayer, then left the road and walked forward, holding out the arrow at arm's length.

At the edge of the meadow, her arrow suddenly flared, and Buffy saw what looked a ripple on the surface of a pond spread upward and outward through the air. 

Inuyasha drew his sword. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

He jumped into the air, and landed lightly next to Kagome. Kouga joined them in the next instant--he had moved so fast that only a puff of dust remained in the road between one eyeblink and the next. 

"Hey, wait for me!" Buffy parked her bike, and swiftly untied her sword and naginata from the frame of her pack. 

_Naraku, at last!_ She felt an unfamiliar tenseness around her middle. Her heart was beating fast, even though she hadn't started fighting yet, and her palms were suddenly sweaty. 

_Shit. I'm scared_. It had been a long time since she felt real fear. But she couldn't let it stop her. Not now. She wiped her hands on her jeans, fastened the swordbelt, and gripping the naginata, went to join the others. 

Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga, and it transformed with the familiar flash of golden fire. He frowned, concentrating, and Buffy saw the blade's aura turn blood-red from hilt to tip. 

He swung the sword down, and the ripple this time was a tidal wave propelled by scarlet fire. With a liquid green burst, the barrier exploded.

Suddenly, instead of a meadow, there were whitewashed walls topped by dark, curved tiled roofs. Right in front of them was the castle's gate. The thick plank-bound doors were open, and a dark vapor swirled out.

The wind shifted suddenly, bringing a throat-scraping smell of acrid decay. 

"Careful," said Miroku. "That miasma is extremely poisonous."

"Indeed it is," agreed a female voice. "Not that you'll get far enough to actually breathe it in."

There was a woman standing just inside the gates. She was dressed in colorful robes, and had an elaborate upswept hairdo. 

"You again," she said, flicking open a red-and-white fan. As she did so, Buffy noticed that she had a youkai's pointed ears and freaky red eyes. "Don't you ever weary of these useless attacks?

"Who's that?" Buffy whispered. 

Without taking his eyes off the fan-wielding youkai woman, Kouga growled, "It's Kagura. And I'm going to kill her today."


	15. Mistress of the Winds

13 13. Mistress of the Winds

_Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan_

Even sheltered by the castle's walls, Kagura felt the shockwave push through her like the winds she commanded. 

_What...? Who could be powerful enough to break through Naraku's defenses? _

She rose from where she knelt in her bare chamber. Drawing her magical fan from her obi, she raced for the castle courtyard at inhuman speed.

Hope rose in her like a tiny breeze on an oppressively hot day. 

Anything powerful enough to destroy one of _his_ barriers might be too powerful for even Naraku to defeat...and that would mean freedom for her, at long last. 

But _he_ was probably watching her. _He_ had kept her on a tight leash since her failed escape attempt last spring. So, whatever she did, she would have to convince him that she was trying to defend his home against the invaders.

oo0oo

To her disappointment, the courtyard was empty of everything save the thick, roiling miasma that Naraku used as his secondary line of defense against invaders. 

_Perhaps outside?_

She gestured with her fan, the eagle-youkai bone ribs smooth and warm against her fingers, and the heavy wooden gates swung open.

Kagura looked at the group approaching the gate, and, with a sinking feeling, she recognized most of them. 

Four humans, including the youkai-taijya who was Kohaku's sister, and the strangely-dressed young miko. That dog-hanyou, Inuyasha. The cocky wolf-prince who had come after her once before. And, oddest of all, a kitsune cub, who fairly radiated terror. 

_Surely, that one isn't old enough to fight!_

They caught sight of her, and came to an uncertain halt some distance from the gates. 

This..._this_ motley crew of humans and youkai had broken through Naraku's barrier? 

Kagura felt her hopes die away in the dead calm of disappointment.

She would still use them if she could, but their previous encounters left her with little hope that they could defeat Naraku. 

Why, they could barely defeat _her_! 

Only the miko and dog-hanyou would require careful handling. The combination of that sword and those arrows had nearly proved Kagura's undoing in a previous encounter.

As for the rest...Kagura let her lips curl in a sneer. _Dog, wolf, fox_.

"Miko, you brought a whole kennel with you this time. Shall I make them heel?"

She swept her fan down, dipping into the air, gathering the wind, concentrating its force. Then, with a practiced flick of her wrist, she freed the howling blades of solidified air trapped in the fan's folds, and flung them at her opponents.

As expected, the youkai moved to dodge the Blades of Wind. 

The hanyou leapt in front of the humans, unsheathing that terrible sword of his. Even in the sunlight, she could see the powerful youki that wreathed its length, moving as restlessly as if it, too, commanded the winds. 

Effortlessly, he parried the blades she had sent hurtling toward the miko, and they dispelled in harmless puffs. He stood protectively in front of the girls, his sword at the ready.

_There. I'm fighting them. Naraku should be pleased. _

And _he_ would never guess her secondary purpose, she thought, swinging her arm back and around, releasing the last of the captive gusts from her fan to sweep behind her, through the courtyard. 

With the barrier gone, the thick purple miasma that carpeted the ground dispersed rapidly, as if it, too, sought to escape Naraku's castle. 

_Now...how to allow them inside, while seeming to put up a spirited defense? _

_I have to make it convincing_. She scanned the group. _Perhaps even kill the weakest of them_. Her eye lit on the three girls and the little kitsune. 

_Ah, yes._ Killing any of those would surely enrage the dog and the wolf enough that they'd stop at nothing to find and kill Naraku this time.

_Tear his throat out_, she thought. _Burn him to ashes with your Kaze-no-Kizu_. _Don't fail me, this time!_

The wolf-youkai was, in fact, trying to circle to her left, his blue eyes fierce with hatred. He had managed to replace the Shikon shards in his legs, she noted. She would have to be careful--those shards gave him unnatural speed and strength.

Luckily for her, he hadn't seemed particularly cunning in their previous encounters. And he wasn't being devious now. 

Almost lazily, she flung a powerful mini-whirlwind at him, and he was forced to vault backwards--and away from his allies--in order to dodge it. 

"Bitch!" he yelled. "I'll make you pay for killing my comrades!"

She laughed. "Those wolves had deserved what they got...just a stupid horde of youkai seeking to rob my master of the Shikon-no-Tama." 

He leapt forward, his mouth contorted in a silent snarl and she raised her fan, snapping it all the way open. 

The scarlet marks painted on the heavy parchment folds uncoiled, sliding hungrily up from the base of the fan to its edge. She could feel their powerful, mindless desire through the eagle bones. 

The red ones wanted to taste blood, to bring death. 

_Not now_. she thought. _But soon_.

They screamed silent protest at her, trembling on the fan's outer edge as it cut the air. But they obeyed.

The wolf-prince landed five paces from her, and she flung another whirlwind at him. He hadn't realized, yet, that none of her attacks had real teeth behind him. _Those_ were still imprisoned on her fan, begging for release. 

Smiling at him, because that seemed to drive him berserk, she asked, "What, you don't execute thieves in the wolf-lands?"

She heard a twang, and then, the unpleasant whine of an arrow whizzing by her head--close enough to rattle her jade earrings. Kagura ducked away just in time, escaping the blast of purifying fire with little more than a few singed hairs. _Fool! I took my eye off the miko!_

"Hiraikotsu!" screamed Kohaku's sister as she flung her giant bone boomerang. 

Kagura's smile widened as she watched it cleave the air. _Foolish human! To use such a weapon on_ me 

This time, only the tiniest movement of her fan was required to send the spinning blade up, over, around--and re-aimed straight at its mistress. 

The girls dove out of the way as the weapon swooped through their midst. 

The hanyou, foolishly enough, tried to catch it. The momentum flung him head over heels some distance away, where he lay crumpled in a heap of red robes. He had not, however, let go of his sword.

_Pity he didn't skewer himself on it_, thought Kagura. Not that a single thrust would be enough to finish him off. He was a tough one, for a half-breed. 

A moment later, the taijya's weapon hit the ground with a heavy thud, and buried itself point-first in the soft soil of the meadow.

Kagura advanced, brandishing her fan. 

In return for leaving the castle gates open behind her, one of the interlopers was going to die. _A life for a life--and may your death ignite the flames that devour Naraku!_

But which one should she kill? She didn't want to execute anyone..._useful_. 

She looked, thoughtfully, at the third girl, who was yellow-haired and wearing strange, tight, clothing. The girl boldly returned her stare, shifted her naginata to her left hand, and drew her sword. 

Instead of lunging, as Kagura expected, she lifted her sword like a spear and flung it, tip first, at Kagura's chest, no doubt intending to spit her. 

_An interesting use of the katana_, she thought as she turned the blade aside harmlessly with a single tap of her fingers on the bones of the fan. _Not that one, then. She's a fighter. She'll be useful._

A muffled whimper caught her attention, and Kagura looked down. There, almost between her feet, she saw the kitsune cub.

He was sprawled on his back, eyes wide, staring up at her. She heard him wheezing with terror. _This one--this one is expendable._

The hungry scarlet marks on her fan shrilled their anticipation, coiling themselves like snakes preparing to strike. _Give us blood! Give us a life!_

Kagura raised her fan. 


	16. The Wolf Prince

14 14. The Wolf Prince

_Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan_

"Foxfire!" screamed the kitsune cub, and Kagura recoiled slightly as a blast of cool green flame shot from his fingertips. 

_Only an illusion_. _I should have known--he_ is_ a kitsune, after all. _

She raised her fan again, but her hesitation had proved her undoing. 

The miko's bowstring twanged, and Kagura barely managed wield her fan in time to deflect an arrow from her throat. It embedded itself in her upper arm, instead.

She screamed. In all the brief period of her existence, nothing had ever hurt like this. She looked down and saw the shaft glowing, its purifying fire scorching the fabric of her kimono, eating into her flesh. 

It seared the fingers of her left hand to the bone as she seized it and yanked it out. She flung it as far away as she could, and the sudden cessation of the burning was a relief. 

But the miko was already nocking another arrow. "Shippo-chan--RUN!"

From the corner of her eye, Kagura saw a flash of movement. It was the wolf-prince. He dove in front of her, landing on his hands, lashing up and out with his feet. 

The impact caught Kagura in her midsection and sent flying backwards, away from the kitsune cub. She crashed into the unyielding masonry of the castle wall, and hit the ground at its base. 

As she crumpled she saw the wolf-prince tuck smoothly into a roll and grab the cub by the back of the neck in passing. He was on his feet again in the next breath. 

She pushed up and regained her feet again as well, though she was feeling distinctly battered, and opened her fan to scoop a new set of weapons out of the air. 

But that arrow had taken its toll--with her injured right arm, she could no longer wield her fan as effectively. And there was no question of switching to her charred left hand. 

She cursed, and flung blades of air at her opponents with as much strength as she could muster. And this time, she freed the scarlet death that strained at the edge of her fan. 

Most of the blades were dodged or deflected, but Kagura heard the triumphant shriek of the red ones as they found their mark in two of the girls. 

_Serves them right!_ thought Kagura, savagely, her right arm throbbing with pain of her own wound. She could feel nothing at all in her left hand, and dared not look.

The miko's upper sleeve tore open and bloomed red, and she dropped her bow. And the yellow-haired girl was a fraction of a second too slow in parrying with her naginata. She staggered and a slash appeared on the thigh of her strange, tight-fitting hakama. Her blood flowed, black against dark blue fabric.

She remained on her feet, however. The blow must have been a glancing one. 

"Kagome!" 

The silver-haired hanyou suddenly appeared between Kagura and her target. His face contorted with rage, he raised his sword and swung it, the malevolent youki flames writhing over its blade. "Kaze-no-Kizu!" 

Kagura did not stop to think. She summoned a mighty rush of wind to carry her up and out of range of the sword's brilliant flame, landing in the castle's central courtyard as the tiles topping the outer walls exploded in a brilliant flare. But the thick walls held fast, and she was safe for now. 

She clutched the smooth bones of her fan, panting a little from the agony in her left hand and her right arm. 

The intruders didn't waste any time. All of them--even the fox-cub--ran inside the gate. There, they stopped, weapons at the ready, and eyed her.

How had she lost control of the situation so quickly? And how severely would Naraku punish her for this failure? 

And yet...she was not entirely displeased. After all, she had managed to fulfill her original intention to put up a convincing struggle while still allowing the intruders access to the castle. 

She _was_ injured, and badly. Not badly enough to kill her--she was youkai, after all, and nearly immortal--but it would take time for her to recover from her injuries. 

But to do so, she had to survive her next encounter with the intruders. Especially with the wolf-prince, whose youki blazed with the desire for righteous vengeance, and who was already advancing on her.

oo0oo 

The courtyard of the castle still reeked of lingering poison, and it burned Kouga's sensitive nose, making him sneeze repeatedly. Shippou, whom he still held safely by the scruff of the neck, was doing the same. 

"Hey! Put me down!" Shippou shrilled, in-between violent sneezes. "Let go of me, Kouga!"

Kouga cuffed him as he would a disobedient wolf-cub--not hard enough to injure, but hard enough to silence the little fox. 

"You're meaner than Inuyasha," muttered Shippou, but at least he'd stopped squirming for now. Kouga glared down at him, and the cub added, "Um, Kouga-sama."

That was better. His Kagome was entirely too kind-hearted. She was spoiling the kitsune. The cub needed to learn the proper respect for his elders...and his superiors. 

Another sneeze echoed through the courtyard. Kouga looked over at his Kagome, hoping she would signal her gratitude for Shippou's rescue. 

Instead, he noticed she was looking at Inu-koro. Who was, as always, standing entirely too close to Kouga's woman. In fact, Kouga caught her in the act of handing that dog-turd a handkerchief because Inu-koro was wiping his nose on his sleeve. 

Kouga rolled his eyes in disgust, and dropped the fox-cub. Shippou yelped as he hit the ground, then scampered in Kagome's direction.

That got her attention at last. "Thank you, Kouga-kun," she called, smiling gratefully at him. 

Over her shoulder, he caught Inu-koro's yellow glare. 

In return, Kouga lifted his upper lip in a gesture that was part lupine snarl, part human sneer.

How could someone as wonderful as his Kagome tolerate that hanyou's loud, grating voice? His rank, doggy smell? His detestable weakness without his weapon? 

But somehow, she insisted on calling Inu-koro her _friend_, and so Kouga was forced to tolerate the half-breed's presence time and time again. 

_Love is hard_, he thought, admiring Kagome's slender legs as she bent down to gather Shippou in her arms. _Especially when it means you can't kill someone who really, really deserves it_. 

But he would restrain himself, because he was a stronger, more honorable person than the hanyou. 

Plus, he wanted to remain on Kagome's good side, so that after Naraku's defeat, she'd wrap those long legs around his waist and let him make her his woman in truth. 

And today looked like it might be that day. Naraku to hunt, that bitch Kagura injured and ready prey, and his Kagome close at hand to give him his reward later...

Kouga blinked, jolted from his momentary daydream. Kagome was, in fact, issuing a stream of low-voiced orders: "Let's split up. He can't fight all of us at once if we're in different places. Buffy, you'll search for the Portal Key?"

Buffy nodded, but Kouga could smell her uncertainty--and the blood seeping from her wounded leg. Sango, the other youkai-taijya, moved to Buffy's side. "I will go with her."

Kagome gave a sharp nod. "Good. Kouga-kun?"

Kouga gave her a smile that showed all of his teeth. "I have business with the Wind-User over there." 

Who, in fact, had one arm wrapped around a post, and appeared barely able to stand. She reeked of weakness. _Easy prey_. 

The human monk spoke. "If Kouga-sama permits, I would like to join him." 

Kagome nodded. "And I will look for the Shikon-no-Tama. I sense several shards nearby."

Gods, but Kouga was proud of her! Human, or not, she had the spirit of a leader, and was more than fit to be queen of the wolf-youkai. 

Why, he didn't even mind that their cubs would be hanyou, like Inu-koro over there.

But before he could settle down to the important but pleasurable business of siring offspring, he had a vow to fulfill. And his brethren to avenge. 

"That means that bastard Naraku must be nearby. I'll go with you, Kagome," said the dog-turd, slinging that stupid sword over his shoulder in one of his braggart's poses. 

Kouga thought about protesting, but Kagome beat him to the response. "Of course, Inuyasha."

"You'd better take good care of her," yelled Kouga, watching the hanyou escort his woman away. 

_The only reason you're alive right now, you miserable mutt, is because you're useful to her. _

Then Kouga cast all thoughts of Inu-koro from his mind, and turned his attention back to what he had come here to do. 

He looked at Kagura, measuring the distance between them. He was going to tear her limb-from-limb, and devour her liver in payment for decimating the Northern and Southern tribes of the wolf-youkai.

Kouga licked his lips and ran forward, the Shikon shards in his legs lending him strength, speed. He could already taste his revenge, rich and bloody... 

oo0oo

With an effort, Kagura stepped away from the support of the pillar. She swayed a little, as if the winds she commanded were tugging insistently at her, though the air in the courtyard was perfectly still. The initial shock of her wounds had settled into buzzing cloud around her senses, dulling them as if Naraku's swarm of poison bees were coursing in her veins.

Behind him, she saw the other intruders enter the largest of the castle's buildings. She could do nothing about that now, so she focused her attention on the wolf-prince, who had come to a halt some distance away, and was sniffing the air. 

"Bit singed around edges, eh, bitch?" he asked, with a feral grin.

In reply, she swung her fan, and launched a volley of wind-blades at him, scarlet teeth hidden in their centers. He blurred as he dodged them, leaping into the air, somersaulting, and coming back to earth a little farther back than he had been. 

In his wake strode one of the humans, clad in dark robes, armed only with a metal-tipped staff. 

He seemed eerily calm, given the circumstances, and she quickly saw why: though not gifted with youkai speed, he wielded that staff with inhuman accuracy, parrying the hungry blades she had flung. They dissipated with soundless flares of purifying fire. 

Before the last of the blades had left her fan, Kagura scooped up another measure, focusing her power. Injured as she was, she would have to keep the wolf-prince on the defensive. 

Her magic took the form of pale spears this time, icy-cold and deadly. Again, the wolf-prince escaped injury, but at the price of having to retreat precious paces. He was snarling now, and his youki gathered around him in writhing clouds tinged with the red of rage. _Good, good. Let his anger further cloud his judgment!_

She paid little attention to the Buddhist monk. Mere human that he was, what could he possibly do to her?

In fact, he was scarcely paying attention to her, occupied as he was in unwrapping with the bandages that covered his right hand...

Oh, it was _him_. She blinked, recognizing him at last. Dangerous, that one, but easily thwarted. 

_Come_, commanded Kagura, directing her thoughts to the large hive that hung in the roof beams of the castle's gatehouse. _There is work for you to do._

The bees poured out of the empty eyes of the gatehouse windows, and hovered, obediently in the air above and behind her.

The monk stopped unwrapping his right hand. She laughed at his dismay and wielded her fan.

This time, she saw annoyance cross his pretty features. In the next instant, he had flung something at her in return--a scrap of paper that blazed with mystical energy.

She sent it spiraling over the castle roof with the merest twitch of her fingers, but the momentary distraction had given the more dangerous of her two opponents an opening.

"Die, bitch!" His legs shimmering with the energy imparted by the shards of the Shikon-no-Tama, the wolf prince vaulted over the distance separating them, and he was hurtling directly at her. 

With a frantic gesture that sent a searing blast of pain through her injured arm, she flung a fanged whirlwind at him.

He tumbled backward, his trajectory abruptly altered by the blast of wind and blades she had summoned. And this time, she drew blood from his legs, though the shards--_shit!_--remained firmly in place.

"Wolf, go home with your tail between your legs, while you still have a tail!" she said, trying not to gasp for breath through the black agony hazing her vision. 

She could not afford to show weakness, not now.

He hit the ground in a spray of gravel, and tumbled head-over-heels. 

She sent another gust of wind to keep him off his feet, and gathered the winds to enclose him in a whirlwind of stones and debris. It had been more effective the last time she had used this against him, but she had had better materials to work with, then--swords and bones to hold him captive rather than this paltry collection of shattered tiles and splintered wood. 

As she expected, her makeshift cage couldn't hold him long.

"KAGURA!" roared the wolf-prince, as he burst from the whirlwind's confines. His eyes were red with youkai rage. 

He drew his sword and planted the blade in the earth. His aura shimmered and turned the color of freshly-spilled blood, boiling up to conceal his form.

A moment later, it subsided. What stood in the courtyard now was not the human-looking youkai. It was a monstrous black wolf with blazing blue eyes. His fangs were dripping a clear fluid that hissed and smoked as droplets fell on the ground. 

Meanwhile, the monk was still flinging his spell-scraps at her. They were easy to turn aside--he only human, after all--but he offered a dangerous distraction when she needed her full attention on the wolf-prince. 

The wolf advanced on her, growling. He brushed against the monk in passing, sending his ally flying into the nearest wall, but his burning gaze never left her. She was his prey.

And then she had no more time to think, as the wolf-youkai gave a mighty leap. 


	17. Feeding Habits of the Common Youkai

15 15. Feeding Habits of the Common Youkai

_Naraku's castle, late 16th-century Japan_

"Are you sure it's okay to leave Kouga-kun to fight that...woman...by himself?" Kagome threw an anxious glance over her shoulder as she followed Inuyasha to the nearest building.

He grunted. "Eh, worry about yourself, Kagome. Kouga's youkai. They're hard to kill--even if Kagura _does_ kick his wimpy ass." 

Inuyasha's tone sounded like he was actually hoping that might happen.

He inserted his bare toes into the slit between the nearest doors, and slid them open with a violent kick. The screech of warped wood moving along the track sounded like a scream, and Kagome flinched.

Inuyasha noticed, and gave her a disgusted look. But he said only: "Sense anything?"

Kagome gripped her bow more tightly. Taking a deep breath, she listened for traces of the Shikon-no-Tama. It wasn't exactly_ listening_, since her ears weren't involved, but that was how she thought of her sensitivity to the jewel's presence.

Sure enough, she felt the familiar crawling sensation, like beetles moving over the surface of her mind. 

"It's strong," she told Inuyasha. "Like there are a lot of shards somewhere ahead...or maybe just one big shard."

_Like the one Kikyou stole from me_, she thought, but did not say out loud. 

Kagome still couldn't understand why the undead priestess had given it to Naraku--those shards of the shattered jewel had taken months to collect, and at frequent risk to all of their lives. Losing them--ironically enough, to the jewel's former guardian--had been a serious blow to Kagome's hopes. 

In more ways than one. 

Kagome still didn't know if she hated or pitied the pathetic remnant of the woman who had been her former incarnation. She certainly wished for everyone's sake--especially, Inuyasha's--that Kikyou had not been resurrected. Wandering the earth in a body made of bones and earth from her grave, forced to devour the souls of dead girls, animated only by her hatred and a small portion of the soul she shared with Kagome...Kikyou had truly suffered a fate worse than death.

_You may have laid claim Inuyasha's life for your own_, thought Kagome. _But I will make him happy, if I can. Because he is my friend...and because I love him_.

As if sensing her train of thought, Inuyasha's ears twitched. "Well, what are you waiting for?" 

"Nothing." 

Trying to distract herself from her thoughts of Kikyou, Kagome looked back at the courtyard. She saw Kouga-kun jump nimbly out of the way of Kagura's blows, and noticed that his legs were bleeding. Her own arm twinged in sympathy. 

It wasn't a deep cut, but it stung, and her sleeve was pasted to her skin with her stiffening blood. _I'll never get that stain out_, she thought. _Mama will have to buy a new blouse. Again_. 

Kagura was definitely moving more slowly now, and her formerly cool demeanor had been replaced by something more frantic. She was fighting for her life, and she seemed to know it. 

Inuyasha's ears twitched again. His profile looked irritated. Kagome tore her eyes from the fight, and hastily followed him inside. 

A couple of steps into the dim corridor, and she bumped into him. He had come to a halt, and was sniffing the air suspiciously. 

She stayed close behind him, using his robes as a shield. "What is it?" she whispered.

"Miasma--don't breathe too deeply." 

"Mmm," she managed, taking the shallowest possible breath. _Now what?_

It was youkai miasma...did that mean could she purify it? 

_It's worth a try_. She reached back to her quiver, and nocked an arrow to her bow. She moved around Inuyasha, drew, aimed down the corridor, and called on her power. 

The arrow blazed brightly as it sped through the dimness, and she saw the thick, dark clouds of poisonous gas ignite briefly and dissipate. 

Inuyasha looked sideways at her, and gave her a half-smile. It was the closest he ever came to praising her. "Which direction?"

Kagome concentrated again. "It's--it's hard to say. I feel shards all around, but the strongest feeling is coming from over there." She pointed down the corridor. 

He strode forward, holding the transformed Tetsusaiga at the ready. In the shadow of the huge, crescent blade, Kagome drew another arrow from her quiver, and placed against her bowstring. Her heart was pounding, as it always did just before a fight. 

As she trotted along in Inuyasha's wake, she noticed that the chambers and corridors were littered with skeletal and, worse yet, partially-decayed human remains. They were all men, their skulls still wearing helmets, pieces of armor and discarded weapons strewn around their bodies. Most of the corpses had been dismembered, and many looked...gnawed upon. 

Kagome swallowed, hard, trying to keep from throwing up. It wasn't just the sight of death. In her travels with Inuyasha, she had seen a lot of horrible things--battlefields, plundered villages, and all sorts of monsters. But the smell in this place was indescribable, like the worst kind of outhouse mingled with rotting meat. 

She came to a halt, cold sweat prickling her face, hands, and underarms. Dizzy, her hand clamped over her mouth, she stared at the floor in front of her. 

There was something really disturbing about seeing just a single human arm, still partly clothed and clutching a katana...with large, ragged bites taken out of it. 

She lost her battle with her nausea. Turning to the wall--which was, mercifully, corpse-free--she retched and brought up the contents of her stomach. When she finally finished heaving, her throat was burning, and tears were running down her face. 

Kagome took deep, sobbing breaths, trying to get herself under control again. She was deep in enemy territory--she couldn't afford to fall apart now. Gradually, she became aware that Inuyasha was patting her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, trying to wipe at her eyes. She desperately wanted to rinse her mouth out with water, but all of their supplies were back at the edge of the forest with the bicycles. 

She was glad she had sent Shippou to guard their gear--she had been scared to death for him after the near-miss with Kagura. At least he had something to do that would allow him to save face while keeping him away from danger. 

"Keh." Inuyasha looked away, but he slipped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a brief, one-armed hug. "You ready to go on?"

Kagome nodded, and started walking again. This time, she tried breathing through her mouth, hoping to filter out most of the stink.

They passed more bodies. "Do you think an army attacked this castle? That they were trying to defeat Naraku?" she asked.

Inuyasha shook his head. "Those guys all died at different times," he muttered. "Naraku--or that bitch Kagura--probably lured them here in small groups as food for the youkai."

"Youkai eat...people? All youkai?" Kagome felt like throwing up again. _Even Kouga?_

Inuyasha grimaced. "Eh, well, it's not exactly cannibalism, you know. And humans are weak. Easy prey." 

A shadow crossed his face, and Kagome longed to ask him what he was remembering. But she kept silent, uncertain whether she wanted to spare his feelings...or hers. 

He caught her questioning look, anyway, and her face grew hot. 

"I never did," he said, roughly, answering her unasked question. His gaze was fixed on the corridor ahead, and his mouth was pulled into a grim line. "I stole food from humans, and I robbed a few, but I never got...hungry enough." 

"Oh." Not for the first time, Kagome wondered what his life had been like after his mother died. It was not something he had ever discussed directly with her-- she had gleaned hints from other hanyou, but he had never offered details. She reached up, and laid a hand on his shoulder. 

He kept walking, and she kept pace with him. After a few more paces, a new awareness registered in her mind. "Up ahead. It's moving."

He stopped. 

"Which side?" There were doors to the right and left of them. Kagome concentrated. 

"Left." She pointed. 

This time, Inuyasha didn't bother to slide open the door. He simply destroyed it with a single blow from Tetsusaiga, and stormed into the chamber. 

Cautiously, Kagome followed him in.

It was dim, but she caught a glimpse of the white baboon-skin cloak favored by Naraku's puppets. A blur of something dark and thick, then Inuyasha went hurtling backwards in a flash of silver hair, taking what remained of the door with him as he flew into the corridor and smashed into the opposite wall. 

"Inuyasha!" Kagome raised her bow, but it was too late. She didn't see the huge, oily tentacle until it had already whipped itself around her waist. 

She felt herself swept up into the air. She had time for one startled shriek before something hard smashed into her back.

She lost the next few moments. 

Her next awareness was that she was still being held captive by the tentacle. And that her back and chest hurt. A lot. 

Kagome took a deep breath--or tried to--and heard herself moan. She had a salty, coppery taste in her mouth, and her vision was blurry. 

_Am I dying? Nothing else could possibly hurt this much._

_Mama, I'm sorry._

But she was still clutching her bow, and the arrow she had nocked. And she could still feel the precious vial of Shikon shards around her neck. 

"Kagome!" She heard Inuyasha's anguished howl an instant before she saw Tetsusaiga's flame-wreathed blade flash in the gloom ahead of her. 

"Inu...yasha," she whispered. 

Or tried to. It really hurt too much to do anything but take the shallowest breaths, and the appendage squeezing her waist felt like it was going to crush her in another minute. 

She wriggled her fingers, moving the arrow out of the way, and let the bow drop. Then, clutching the shaft of the arrow, she closed her eyes, and tried to call on her power. 

It was difficult--the radiating pain in her chest and side raised a barrier to the cool fire. But she had to reach it. 

_Please_, she prayed, though to what she didn't know. _Please--I need to reach you!_

The fire responded, sluggishly at first. Then it poured into her, dissipating the pain just like it had dissipated the miasma earlier. 

With a yell, Kagome raised her arrow, and stabbed it into the dark, shining skin of the thing wrapped around her waist. 

A bright flare, the stink of burning flesh, and then, a shriek. She fell, but only for a moment. 

Then, abruptly, another tentacle caught her, this time squarely around her ribs. 

The agony this time tore a scream from Kagome's throat. Her grasp on her power slackened, driven back by the bright-speckled pain clouding her head. 

Now she saw Inuyasha. 

He was on the far side of the room from her, hacking away at the creature's tentacles in an enraged frenzy, yelling obscenities all the while. And the youkai that held her hostage was laughing. 

It was enormous, reeking of the power bestowed by a tainted shard of the Shikon-no-Tama, and as quickly as it lost limbs, they regenerated.

Kagome marshaled the remaining feeble trickle of her power, and stabbed the creature again with her arrow. 

This time, it allowed her to fall all the way to the cold, hard, stone floor before it took her captive again. 

oo0oo

Kagome was bleeding. 

_Shit. _

Inuyasha could smell her injury--and the metallic scent of her pain--even over the foul stench of the thing Naraku had sent to ambush them. 

She hung, limply, in the grasp of the huge youkai. The baboon-skin cloak that concealed the bastard's..._head_, for a lack of better term...had fallen away, revealing a dark, bulbous mass, split by an opening lined with rows upon rows of sharp, triangular teeth. 

And Inuyasha, try as he might, wasn't getting any closer to her. He hacked at everything within reach, using all of his strength, and still, the tentacles kept coming, keeping him pinned down near the doorway.

On the opposite side of the room from her. 

He growled his frustration, and swung harder. If only he could use Kaze-no-Kizu! That would finish off this piece-of-shit youkai in one blow.

And probably collapse the castle's walls. Inuyasha glanced up at the thick beams that supported the tile roof, and growled again. _Fuck_._ I'd probably kill Kagome, too._

His inattention cost him. 

In an instant, Tetsusaiga was ripped from his grasp, and sent flying across the room. 

Inuyasha cursed, as much at himself as at the creature he was fighting, and flexed his fingers. 

No sword? Fine. He'd just have to rescue Kagome the old-fashioned way.

"SANKONTESSOU!" he yelled, gathering his legs beneath him, and leapt upwards, outwards. 

He felt the deeply satisfying sensation of his claws ripping through his opponent's cold flesh before he landed. Behind him, the tentacles regenerated, thanks to the powers of the fucking jewel shard, but he was closer to Kagome now.

Close enough to see that there was fresh blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Maybe she'd just bitten her tongue. _Maybe_. 

_Or maybe_...

"SANKONTESSOU!" 

This time, he nearly made to her side before the tentacles whipped around his arms and his legs, immobilizing him. 

The thing chuckled, Naraku's voice oddly distorted by the creature's bulk--and that mouth. "She has the shards. I'll eat her first, hanyou. And then I'll eat you. I hear dog meat tastes good--almost as good as a miko's flesh."

"You pathetic son of a whore!" Inuyasha drew on all this strength, trying to toss off the creature's grip on him, but he could barely move his limbs. 

The tentacles holding Kagome began to move her briskly towards those gleaming teeth.

And Tetsusaiga lay in the far corner of the chamber, its power gone for now. _Just an old, rusty sword_. 

She was going to die. They were _both_ going to die, devoured by one of Naraku's loathsome avatars. 

"NO!" Unbound by Testusaiga's absence, he felt his youkai blood rising. 

His transformation hurt as his demon half took over his body, warping its fabric to serve its purposes. But this time, he welcomed it. He was going to save himself. 

He was going to save Kagome.

If he didn't kill her, first. 

Her blood suddenly smelled delicious to him. _Injured prey. Fresh meat._

_No! _Inuyasha struggled to control his transformation, to keep his hanyou self in control of his demon body._ I can't! Not Kagome!_

"Inuyasha!" Her eyes were finally open, though dull. "Inuyasha, don't!" She braced her hands against the tentacle holding her captive, and looked at him. 

The part of his mind that was still the hanyou Inuyasha felt ashamed that she saw him like this, all scarlet eyes and teeth..._a monster_. 

He had been able to control himself before, but it seemed as though the beast within grew stronger every time he released it. 

And she hadn't been bleeding last time. Hadn't smelled quite so much like food. 

But what choice did he have? If he didn't allow the inu-youkai free rein, neither of them would survive. 

Kagome was still looking at him. Not fear but..._worry_? About to be eaten by something with more teeth than anything needed, and she was worried about _him_? 

He felt the ghostly imprint of her lips pressed against his, a memory from the last time that the inu-youkai had tried to take over. 

The tide of transformation ripping through him faltered. Hesitated.

"Kagome." It was partly a plea for understanding, partly a plea for forgiveness. 

She turned her glance at the monster. They were very close now to that gaping maw. Her expression shifted from worry to sudden determination...and anger.

"Kagome!" He had never felt so helpless. He managed to wrench one arm free from the tentacles holding him captive, and used his claws to slash at every bit of flesh within reach. 

"I am not going to be your lunch!" she shouted at the creature as she reached into her blouse and fished up the vial of Shikon shards. 

Her hands closed around the vial, cupping it, She closed her eyes. 

And then, she was glowing, pulsing with the same power that infused her arrows. 

The tentacle holding her torso rippled uneasily.

"Get away from me!" she shrieked, and a bubble of power expanded outward from her, purifying everything it touched. 

The tentacles holding her captive withered instantly, dissolving into slimy black puddles. Then the ring of light touched the creature's main body, and it began to bubble, steaming and sizzling as it vaporized.

An instant later, only its Shikon-no-Tama shard remained, the sharp edges glittering in the midst of a sticky dark pool on the floor.. 

Kagome's power reached Inuyasha, washing over him like cool water. He felt the inu-youkai retreat, and the burning sensation of its transformation vanished, along with the pain of his injuries. At the same moment, the tentacles holding his limbs captive vanished, and he fell to the flagstones with a thump.

It hurt a lot more than it usually did. And his senses felt strangely dulled. Almost as if...

He looked down, at his hand. It looked wrong...the claws replaced by short nails. _No! _

His gut twisting, he ran his tongue over his fangs, only to encounter the dull, even edge of human teeth. _Oh, no._

He grabbed at his hair, and saw the long, dark strands in his fist._ Oh, shit, no!_

Human. He was human. She had purified him, too.

_Shitshitshitshit._ How was he going to find and kill Naraku if he was a fucking human?

A wave of frustrated anger moved through him. All these weeks of searching, and they'd finally found Naraku's hiding place. And now he was helpless...or just as good as helpless. With no way of knowing when--or even whether--it would wear off, the way that his New Moon transformation from hanyou to human wore off at dawn. 

_Dammit, Kagome! How could you do this to me?_

He sat up, rubbing his bruised back, and glared over at her, ready to give her a piece of his mind. 

And felt his stomach drop as he saw her sprawled gracelessly on the floor of the chamber, surrounded by puddles of black goo. His anger vanished, replaced by panic.

_Oh, gods, Kagome, please don't be dead!_

Oblivious to everything else, Inuyasha rose and staggered over to her. He had just enough presence of mind to grab the tainted shard from its sticky surroundings as he passed the large, darkened patch that had been its head. 

"Kagome..." Inuyasha sank to the floor and frantically gathered her in his arms, cradling her in his lap. He felt so...weak. And he hated it.

_It's my fault she got hurt. I wasn't fast enough. Or strong enough. Or good enough. Not fucking good enough. _

He hadn't been fast enough, or strong enough to save his mother, either. Or Kikyou. 

His dulled human senses couldn't smell how badly Kagome was injured, but he saw the blood soaking her sleeve, and felt how cool and clammy her face and hands were. Maybe it was just the lack of light in this damned gloomy place, but she looked...grayish. _Not good._

But he could see her pulse at the base of her throat. He let out his breath in a long whoosh.

_Alive. Thank the gods. Alive. _

Overcome with emotion, he bent his head and allowed himself to touch his mouth to the tender space just above her collarbone, assuring himself that her pulse was real, and not just his wishful thinking. 

Relief flooded through him as her heartbeat, strong and steady, fluttered against his lips.

Maybe he wouldn't be able to kill Naraku this time, but she was still alive. 

And so was he. Even if he was human now.


	18. On Borrowed Time

16 16. On Borrowed Time

_Naraku's Castle, late 16th-century Japan_

"A wolf," said Buffy. "He really _is_ a wolf. Only--" 

She looked back over her shoulder at the transformed Kouga. He was growling, his muzzle wrinkled in a snarl that exposed fangs the size of chef's knives, and steadily stalking Kagura around the courtyard. 

"A _lot_ bigger."

Sango, who was leading the way, stopped under the long verandah that ran around the perimeter of the courtyard. She looked like she was trying hard not to smile. 

"Of course, Buffy-chan. Kouga-kun is of the Yourouzoku. His human appearance is simply a guise. That--" she pointed with her chin at the enormous black wolf. "Is his _true_ form. Do you not have wolf-youkai in Kari-funya?"

"Not like_ that_. We have werewolves, people who have been infected--cursed, I guess you'd call it. They're human except on the nights of the full moon, but even when they go wolfy, they're still mostly people-shaped. Just furrier. And with longer teeth." Buffy thought of Oz with a brief pang, and wondered how he was coping, these days. 

"Werowufo? Ah," said Sango, thoughtfully. "They sound like wolf-hanyou, who have three forms: fully human, hanyou, and fully youkai."

"You mean Inuyasha doesn't always look the way he does? With the ears and teeth and stuff?"

"That is Inuyasha's hanyou form. But every hanyou has a time when he becomes fully human. It is a different time for each hanyou, and they keep it secret, because they are most vulnerable then. And I have seen Inuyasha's youkai form, as I have told you."

"Does he turn into a youkai...often?" Inuyasha the hanyou was incredibly strong, and had a really bad temper. If that was only his half-youkai form, well, Buffy hated to think what his full-youkai form was like.

Sango shook her head. "It is dangerous for him to transform too often. Luckily, his sword carries a spell to suppress his youkai blood."

They reached a doorway, and Sango reached to pull it open. 

"So, what's he like as a hum--" Buffy started to ask, but was interrupted by Kirara's long, rumbling growl. 

The firecat shouldered Sango aside, and stood blocking the door that the youkai-taijya had just opened. Kirara's fur was standing on end, and she was snarling.

Sango looked consideringly at Kirara, as if trading silent communication with the big, saber-toothed feline.

Then she untied the scarf from around her neck, and shook out two objects that looked like oversized metal belt buckles, with long laces fluttering from the ends. 

Sango handed one of the objects to Buffy. "Kirara says that the castle is filled with jyaki--a poisonous miasma." She lifted the object to her face, covering her mouth and nose, and tied the laces to hold it in place. "You will need to wear this."

"Lucky you brought a spare," Buffy said, her voice muffled by the snugly-fitting mask. The edges were lined with soft leather, and the interior was filled with the sharp, aromatic scent of dried herbs. She fumbled with the laces, not sure how tight to tie it.

Sango blinked, her eyes suddenly sad above the engraved metal concealing the bottom half of her face. "It belongs--_belonged_--to my brother Kohaku," she said. "I--" She stopped, as if she had changed her mind about what she wanted to say next, then continued, in a different tone: "I hope it fits you? You must not breathe in any of jyaki--it is deadly to humans."

Buffy wiggled the mask experimentally, then gave Sango the thumbs-up. "Ready when you are," she said, feigning a confidence she did not feel. 

This past week spent traveling around feudal Japan had made her wonder if she was really up to getting the job done. 

Buffy was the Slayer, but that didn't mean the same thing in a world where skinny teen-aged boys could rip large trees out by the roots, and even Kagome had superpowers. 

She couldn't ditch nagging worry that her even her best wouldn't be good enough here, and that Naraku would be left free to pillage his way across every dimension--including hers. 

oo0oo

The interior of the castle was the absolute creepiest place Buffy had ever seen. Like a really bad B horror movie, only with smell-o-vision. 

To distract herself from the horror as they crept cautiously along a gloomy corridor, Buffy started composing a list of haunted house movie cliches that Naraku's castle reminded her of. 

_Dark mist billowing over the floor._.._check_. 

_Cobwebs_.._:check_. 

_Dead bodies--and pieces of dead bodies--everywhere_..._check_. 

No sign of a rack or an Iron Maiden yet, but then again, they hadn't reached the dungeon. 

And it _stank_. Even the herbs in Buffy's mask couldn't filter out the smell completely. 

Even Sango, kick-ass chick that she was, was looking sort of green above her mask. Buffy wondered whether the other wings of the castle smelled as bad, and if so, how Inuyasha and Kagome were doing. Dog-boy had a really sensitive nose--he'd be in a special kind of hell here. 

Kirara had not stopped growling since they entered the building. The firecat seemed to know where she was going, so Buffy and Sango followed her, deeper and deeper into the interior. They climbed several flights of worn wooden stairs, and started searching the top floor. 

At least the smell wasn't so bad here--no bodies, and there were larger windows in the stone walls. They emerged from the staircase into a large antechamber, which was furnished with low tables, tatami mats, and floor cushions. There were hangings on the wall, but Buffy didn't have a chance to look at them. 

Kirara leapt forward with a scream of rage, and knocked down the fragile wooden wall that formed the back of the antchamber. 

Buffy raised her naginata, and ran after the firecat. Sango was right behind her, Hiraikotsu unslung and ready for action. 

The second chamber was large, and bare, except for a dais at the far end, under a bank of windows. 

Someone was sitting cross-legged on the dais. A young, girly-looking man, with large dark eyes and long, flowing black hair. Who didn't look particularly surprised to see them.

Then Buffy caught sight of a Portal Key and a shallow bowl filled with pale, glowing shards, sitting on a low table to one side. And she knew who this was. 

_Another demon hottie. Too bad I'm gonna have to kill him._

"Naraku!" Sango shouted, in the same instant. She swung Hiraikotsu like a giant scythe, keeping her grip on the weapon's strap, and the pale bone blade arced toward the young man.

Who had abruptly shifted form into something horrible. His long robes fell away, and he..._grew_... 

In an eyeblink, his pale slender torso and that cold, beautiful face were perched on a writhing mass of monstrous limbs. Arms, legs, tentacles...Buffy wasn't sure what they were, but they were damned ugly, and most of them were tipped with claws or stingers.

Sango's weapon sliced through several of the misshapen limbs, sending them hurtling to the corners of the room. Buffy ducked one--she could swear it was trying to grab her hair as it whizzed by--and swung her naginata. 

_The Ginzu pole-axe. It slices, it dices_...thought Buffy, as Naraku-bits fell to the tatami in messy, writhing gobbets. She saw Hiraikotsu come around for another pass, and grinned. _But wait, there's more!_

One of the dismembered hands caught hold of her ankle, and digging in its claws, started to inch up the leg of her jeans, probably attracted by the wound still seeping from Kagura's attack. 

Buffy switched the naginata to her other hand, drew her sword, and neatly severed the fingers--or whatever they were--gripping the denim. 

The hand-thing fell to the floor, still twitching. _Ewwww_. Buffy kicked it away, and saw it go splat against the nearest wall. 

Kirara was doing her thing, too, lunging in and out of range of the various arms and tentacles that tried to grab her, sinking her huge fangs into anything that came within biting range, and tearing away pieces wholesale. 

They weren't winning--not yet--but they were holding their own. 

Buffy started to hope that maybe, just maybe, they had a chance of kicking this thing's ass. 

Then, what felt like a huge gust of wind moved through the chamber, making Buffy and Sango stagger to keep their balance. All the chopped-off Naraku-bits rose--or detached themselves--from where they lay, stuck, or clung, and flew back to his body, where they stayed put. It looked like someone had turned on a giant demon-magnet. 

Another huge gust of wind knocked them all to the floor. The room went abruptly dark, filling with dense miasma. 

By the time Buffy staggered to her feet, Sango and Kirara were shadowy outlines, and Naraku was long gone. Along with Portal Key, and the Shikon-no-Tama shards.

"Dammit!" Buffy muttered. 

Sango slung Hiraikotsu back over her shoulder with a decisive motion. "We have to find him!" she shouted. "We can't let him escape this time!"

Kirara roared, and wheeled around. Plunging back the way they'd come, all three of them raced down the stairs, the firecat in the lead. 

oo0oo

The trail ended at the lowest level of the castle-_-the dungeons, at last_, thought Buffy, and they were just as dank and nasty as expected. 

Kirara stood over a large trapdoor in the stone floor, growling and peering expectantly at them.

Buffy did not want to go down there. She was sure that whatever awaited them in the dungeon's cellar was going to be really _really_ nasty. 

She looked at Sango, and saw the same apprehension mirrored in the youkai-taijya's eyes. 

Buffy took a deep, herb-scented breath, and reached down to grab the trapdoor's handle. It rose smoothly despite the weight of the thick planks and iron fittings. 

It was dark down there. Really, _really_ dark. 

She reached into the back pocket of her jeans, and pulled out a tiny, high-powered flashlight. The beam revealed a rickety-looking wooden ladder that ended in a wetly-gleaming stone floor. 

"Ah, what the hell," said Buffy, forcing down the sick fear-feeling in her stomach. She had come here to get Naraku's Portal Key, and she wasn't going to leave without it. No way did she want his demonic bad-ass self paying a surprise call on that nice Mrs. Higurashi or Kagome's kid brother Souta. She owed it to them.

Sango's chin rose. "You can still turn back, Buffy-chan. This isn't your world...or your fight."

"Nah. I'm in." Buffy shrugged. "You've already died once. I've died twice. We both know we're living on borrowed time, right?" 

Sango looked at her, puzzled. 

"So, I guess we'd better make the most of the moment. Go out in a blaze of glory, and all that," Buffy finished. 

Maybe not the most inspiring speech she'd ever given, but, hey, not bad for a stinky dungeon. 

The fear roiling her tummy vanished, leaving behind only the determination to see this through to the end. She was the Slayer, whatever that meant--or didn't mean--in the Sengoku-jidai. 

_The best that I can do, I will. Hope it's enough._

"Right. Let's go." Sango shouldered her boomerang once more and shimmied down the ladder, into the darkness. 

Buffy was right behind her. 

The cellar was huge, very dark, and festooned with slimy strands. The smell was unbelievable, a thousand times worse than the castle corridors above. 

And everywhere her flashlight beam touched, Buffy saw pulsing, shiny, creeping, rippling monster flesh. Kagome had told her that Naraku was composed of many different youkai that he'd forcibly absorbed. This place looked like it was littered with the leftovers. 

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled, sending the giant boomerang circling around the chamber. 

It sang through the air with a deep _throom_ that Buffy felt in her molars, and left a path of destruction in its wake, scattering bits of youkai flesh and breaking bones and armor plates with deep crunching sounds. 

Sango reached out and caught it, rocking backward on her heels as she arrested its forward momentum. Then, there was only the soft, sucking sounds of dismembered flesh creeping along the floor like disgusting inchworms, trying to rejoin. 

_Yuck. Oh, yuck. I take it back--not every demon in feudal Japan is a hottie._

Buffy hefted her naginata, and wished she'd remembered to pack a flamethrower before coming through the well. 

"I love a Slayer who knows how to make an entrance," she called to Sango.

"But it is your departure that you should be worrying about, little girls." Naraku's voice was cold, but he rolled his syllables as if the words themselves were smirking. 

And Sango smiled, all of her usual sadness banished by a fiercely joyous expression. "I never worry about leaving until my job is finished. You will die here today, Naraku. In the name of my family and my village, I swear it."

He laughed, mockingly, and the pale circle of Buffy's flashlight caught that obscene flesh rippling then...splitting. 

Something slithered rapidly out of the dark opening...something thin and lithe and almost as large as Kirara, with way too many legs and definitely way too many teeth. 

"A detachment!" Sango told Buffy. "We must kill it first."

Buffy kept the beam of light on the skittering thing as it raced across the cellar floor. "Not a problem, far as I'm concerned," she said, swinging her naginata to the ready position. 

Together, they went to meet the creature. 

It was fast, but Buffy caught it on a downswing, and the razor-sharp blade of her naginata cut it in half. 

Unfortunately, that meant they now had two of the critters to deal with--the cut halves healed in an eyeblink, and the back half suddenly sprouted a head filled with teeth just as nasty as its front half. 

Sango swept Hiraikotsu around in a wide arc, sending the creatures flying without severing any more bits. "Fire!" she called. "Kirara--burn them!"

The firecat caught the first detachment-creature in its fangs with little difficulty--it appeared to be somewhat stunned from Sango's blow--and with a roar, Kirara ignited the creature. 

It disintegrated almost immediately, leaving only the second one to deal with. Luckily, Kirara's flames provided extra light, and the two Slayers worked together, using the flats of their weapons to drive the creature toward Kirara. 

But Naraku had been busy, too, while they battled the skittery things. 

With a sweeping gesture, he sent a dozen ropy tendrils in her direction. She severed six or seven of them, then found her wrists entwined and firmly held by the rubbery flesh. The naginata was torn from her grasp, and hit the floor with a slime-muffled clatter. 

Sango hesitated, and the thing they'd been chasing _skittered_ out of range, its dozen or so insectoid feet tapping rapidly on the flagstones.

"Get it!" Buffy shouted at her, as she tried to free herself. "Burn it! I'm okay!"

Sango threw her a sharp nod, and ran forward, swinging her bone boomerang as she went, neatly slicing off whatever bits of Naraku's demon body that slithered, wriggled, or hung within range. 

Buffy resumed trying to break her bonds, but the slender tendrils were tougher than they looked. Inch by inch, she was dragged forward. She tried planting her feet and pulling back, but the soles of her sneakers couldn't find purchase on the slimy floor, and she simply skidded in whatever direction she was pulled. 

"Human girl, I will feed you to my youkai," said Naraku, with a chuckle. 

Buffy saw something move in the shadows behind him. The flashlight, held ineffectually in her captive left hand, gleamed off bulbous eyes and a row of needle-like, translucent teeth. 

She tried twisting suddenly, hoping to snap the tendrils before Needle-teeth reached her. The tendrils merely stretched a bit, before yanking her back so sharply that she fell to her knees on the hard floor. 

Then, to her horror, one of the tendrils snaked down the front of her hiking jacket, and pulled out the Portal Key, which she had put in a deep pocket, sealed with a Velcro flap. The Velcro opened now with a tearing sound. 

"I thought so," said Naraku's voice, from above her. "You, also, have a this key-between-the-worlds. I'm sure I shall find having an extra...very _useful_." That nasty chuckle again. Buffy had hated it the first time she heard it, and it wasn't liking it any more with repetition.

_Crap. _

"SANGO!" screamed Buffy, as Needle-teeth rushed at her. 

Naraku with two Keys. Buffy trapped in this time...forever. 

_Or maybe not forever. Maybe just for the ten seconds remaining until I become youkai fast-food. _

If ever she needed another Slayer's help, it was now.

Hiraikotsu's deep thrum was the sound of Buffy's ass being saved. The huge youkai-bone weapon whirled through the space separating Buffy and Naraku, severing the tendrils at last. 

Buffy caught the cool metal sphere of her Portal Key as the tendril that had snatched it went abruptly limp, tossed the Key to her left hand, and drew her sword. 

Just in time to fend off Needle-teeth. The katana that Koji had lent her was just as sharp as the naginata, and it sliced though Needle-teeth's fur and flesh like a knife through Jello. 

She saw Hiraikotsu whir by again, this time taking several large chunks out of Naraku's main body. 

Needle-teeth howled, toppled over, and disintegrated into goop. Buffy took advantage of the brief respite to snag her naginata from where it had fallen, then charged Naraku. 

Buffy wasn't sure how long she and Sango hacked and slashed at Naraku's various appendages, not to mention the various beasties he spawned from his body--_like a giant amoeba_, thought Buffy--but it seemed they were making progress. He seemed to be shrinking, and was producing surprise guest opponents less and less often. 

The naginata finally dulled, as did the sword, and Buffy's arms and shoulders burned with the effort of swinging them, over and over again. She could hear Sango's harsh breaths even through her mask, but the youkai-taijya swung Hiraikotsu time and time again, leaping gracefully in the air to inflict the maximum damage to Naraku's upper limbs and torso.

Finally, the two of them, plus Kirara, had him backed into a corner. _Time to end the show_, thought Buffy, as she traded glances with Sango. 

But Naraku had one more surprise left up his..._well, not sleeve, because he's sort of naked_, thought Buffy, dizzily, as an invisible force picked her up and tossed her across the room.

She hit the floor, hard, and slid on a slippery layer of she-didn't-want-to-know-what. The flashlight went out, and Kirara's flame was also abruptly extinguished. 

There was a great rushing and sucking sound in the darkness. Buffy felt a movement near her, and swung her sword. It cut deeply into something that squealed loudly, then retreated. 

Her butt felt extremely bruised, and her left arm--where she'd landed on it--was numb and felt rubbery. She fumbled for the flashlight, and turned it back on. 

Its light was sort of amber now--the sign of draining batteries--but it produced enough light for Buffy to kill the two youkai that were stalking her. 

Once she'd taken care of them, she swept the dying flashlight beam around the cellar. Sango was several yards away, conscious but sprawled on top of Hirakotsu. 

Kirara had apparently been smacked back to her usual kitten size. She rose, shook herself with a tiny mewing sound, then transformed back into her giant firecat form. 

"He's gotten away!" Buffy reached out and pulled Sango to her feet, then picked up Hiraikotsu by one of its rough hempen handles. The pale bone was smeared with dark stains now, but the edge looked as sharp as ever.

"So, we forced him to retreat. Twice. Not bad for 'mere humans,'" Sango said, mimicking Inuyasha's usual inflection with grim satisfaction. She accepted Hiraikotsu from Buffy, rubbed her hip through her black leather armor, and headed for the ladder, limping a little. "Let's go!"

Buffy hesitated, and swept the flashlight around the cellar once more, just to make sure that Naraku wasn't playing possum among the jumble of dismembered and partially-absorbed youkai. 

Most of the demon-parts were still here, but the writhing bulk of Naraku had vanished. 

Then she heard Sango yell as the heavy trapdoor slammed shut, followed an instant later by the scraping sound of bolts being shot.

They were locked in. And there was no other exit from the cellar.


	19. Sacrifice

17 17. Sacrifice

_Naraku's Castle, late 16th-century Japan_

_Locked in? Now what do we do?_ thought Buffy. After a second of consideration, she turned off her flashlight, to save what remained of the battery. 

Kirara's flames provided plenty of illumination, now that they weren't fighting.

The firecat stalked over to the base of the ladder, and stood there for a long moment, looking up at the trapdoor fifteen feet above, and growling softly Then the giant firecat crouched and leapt upwards, forepaws extended.

With a loud bang and the sound of cracking stone, the trapdoor flew off its hinges.

Sango slung Hirakotsu over her shoulder, and ran for the ladder. "Come on, Buffy-chan! We have to hurry!"

Buffy was close on Sango's heels as they climbed the ladder out of the cellar. "Maybe we should go get Inuyasha and the others."

Sango paused in her ascent, and looked down at Buffy, her gaze wide-eyed, almost panicked above the metalwork of her mask. "No time," she said, tersely. "He'll get away."

oo0oo

How had he permitted this to happen? Naraku raged as he dragged his crippled body along a corridor leading away from entrance to the cellars. 

He had underestimated those two little human girls, and badly. When he had finally recognized his danger, they had already injured him, and were enthusiastically carving him to bits. He had tried what defense he could quickly summon, but the youkai-taijya were tougher--and stronger--than they looked. 

And Naraku's speciality was crafting servants to carry out his work. Not in fighting enemies himself. 

Losing mass and mobility faster than he could regenerate from the raw materials in his cellar, he chose to retreat, galling as it was. 

All he needed was a little time to regroup, and he would fashion an avatar that would destroy those two humans--and their allies-- in an instant. 

In the meanwhile, he was having a difficult time quelling an incipient rebellion among the youkai that formed his body. They were interpreting his strategic withdrawal as retreating in defeat, and long-suppressed resentments were boiling up in his various parts. Some of the absorbed youkai were actually trying to detach on their own, and abandon him. 

That was unacceptable. 

Naraku stopped in his flight and turned into one of the side-chambers. Concentrating, he exerted his will, beating down the disloyal elements, stripping them of their remaining strength and will. He regretted losing their cunning and skills, but if they could not be trusted, henceforce, they would serve only to feed or repair his loyal components. 

The part of him that had once been Arashthoth the Gatekeeper was still howling for the Portal Key borne by the foreign girl, but Naraku quelled his demanding voice. One key to unlock the gates separating the worlds was sufficient. He did not want a second key badly enough to sacrifice his dominion to the oddball alliance of youkai, hanyou, and humans that hunted him. 

Somewhat sulkily, his remaining youkai settled themselves, and began the task of healing the damage Naraku had endured in that preposterous attack. Satisfied that all was in order for now, he resumed his human guise, and prepared to leave the chamber. 

Only to find his way blocked by the taijya girls and the youkai firecat. 

He tried to sweep them out of the way with a long pseudopod, but Sango was faster, and Naraku felt the burning pain of her bone blade slicing through his flesh. 

_Damn_. He would have to distract them, somehow. 

And he knew just the way to do it. 

Naraku sent out a silent summons to the boy, and with admirable speed, the young taijya appeared in the corridor behind the two girls. He must have been lurking nearby, attracted by the invaders' commotion.

The firecat sensed him first, and her plaintive meow distracted Sango. Naraku saw her turn away from the doorway.

Sango gasped when she saw the boy, which was just as Naraku had intended. 

But he was displeased to see that the boy also stopped when he saw her, though Naraku was certain that the boy did not, _could_ not remember her. Naraku had been careful to bury those memories so deeply that they could never be recovered. 

He saw Sango's attention focus fully on the boy. She relaxed her grip on her weapon.

_Foolish, weak human heart! _Naraku gloated. 

He activated a compulsion through the Shikon shard embedded in the boy's back._ Kill them!_

oo0oo 

"Who's that? Is he one of Naraku's detachments?" asked Buffy, reluctantly dividing her attention between Naraku and the newcomer. 

The kid standing behind them looked about twelve years old, and he was wearing the same kind of leather armor as Sango, reinforced with youkai-bone plates at shoulders, elbows, and knees.

He was holding a weapon that looked like a sickle, with a long chain attached to the handle, but his posture wasn't threatening. He actually looked kind of harmless, compared to the other things Naraku had sent against them. But he wasn't wearing a mask, and the deadly miasma filling the air in this part of the castle didn't seem to affect him. 

As a precaution, Buffy hefted the now-dulled naginata.

"No." Sango had drawn her sword, and Buffy noticed that her friend's hands were shaking, badly. "That is my brother. Kohaku." 

_Oh, man_, Buffy thought, with a pang of sympathy. What _else_ did Naraku have in store for them?

"Thought your brother was dead." He didn't _look_ like a zombie, but there was something subtly wrong about him. 

Sango gave a single nod, her gaze never leaving Kohaku. The boy was staring uncertainly at her, frowning a little. 

"Naraku reanimated him with a shard of the Shikon-no-Tama. Then stole his memories." The utter desolation in Sango's tone made her words sound flat, unemotional.

"I--I think I remem--" the kid began to say. 

All of a sudden, his expression went eerily blank, as if someone had flipped a switch and turned him off. 

Without warning, he swung the sickle at the end of its chain, and aimed for his sister's legs. 

She managed to avoid the blade itself, but the chain wrapped itself around her knees, toppling her to the floor. She turned aside his next blow with a frantic sweep of her sheathed katana, and the half-moon blade of the sickle bit deep into the floorboards next to her face.

Buffy moved to join the fight, but she noticed that Naraku was taking advantage of the diversion, and gathering a thick cloud of miasma around him. Without thinking, she grabbed Hiraikotsu from where it had fallen after Kohaku's initial attack. 

She swung it up and over her shoulder in a smooth arc, just like she'd practiced it with Sango, then released it. The heavy boomerang left her hand, and flew unerringly toward Naraku. 

She heard its heavy impact, and several limbs flew out of the dark cloud that surrounded him. They lay, writhing, on the bare floorboards.

"Kohaku! Delay them!" Naraku commanded, and once again, a great wind began to rush through the chamber. The sliding door that led outside to the courtyard splintered outward. 

Buffy reached out and caught Sango's boomerang as it returned, but before she could swing it around for another shot, Naraku levitated, and whooshed out of the castle in a whirlwind of poisonous fumes and oversized bees.

_Oh, shit_. Buffy ran after him, but Naraku was already just a small, dark cloud moving rapidly through the sky. 

"Shit!" she screamed at the sky. 

_I can't believe I let him escape!_

Then, because she didn't know what else to do, she went back inside to help Sango fight her kid brother. 

Sango was faring badly. It was hard to cry and fight at the same time, Buffy thought, and Sango was furthered hampered by the fact that she was trying to avoid seriously injuring Kohaku, while he was going full-out on her. 

Buffy shook off her sick sense of failure and ran forward. Second-rate youkai-taijya or not, she was still the Slayer. There had to be _someone_ in this world whose ass she could kick!

His attention was focused completely on Sango as they circled one another, him swiping viciously at her with his sickle, and she parrying his blows with her katana--still in its sheath. The smooth lacquered wood was already badly cracked and scarred. 

Buffy disarmed Kohaku by the simple ploy of sneaking up behind him, and yanking his weapon from his hand. She tossed it as far down the corridor as she could. 

He turned on her in a flurry of fists and feet like a miniature Bruce Lee.

Uneasy at beating up a kid, Buffy went easy on him at first, but he was ferociously strong and fast. And she was injured, the wound in her leg burning as she dodged and kicked at him.

From the corner of her eye, Buffy saw Sango draw her blade from its scabbard at last, and knew that her friend had decided her brother must die. Above her mask, Sango's eyes were still shining with tears, but her gaze had gone cold, determined.

"Sango, no!" Buffy shouted, thinking, _I can't let you do it. I don't want you to have his blood on your hands--or your conscience._

"I have to," Sango said, so softly that Buffy barely heard her.

At her words, Kohaku took his eyes off Buffy for one fatal second. 

She spun on her heel and lashed out at his chin with her other foot, not holding back this time. The kick snapped back his head, and sent him flying through the opening that Naraku had made. 

She heard a heavy thump, and ran after him. He was curled around the base of one of the pillars outside, unconscious. 

A loud snarl--stronger and deeper than Kirara's--caught Buffy's attention. She looked up, and saw Kouga, still in his huge black wolf form, lunge forward and snap at Kagura, who was looking distinctly tattered and bloody at this point.

The demoness jumped out of the way. Barely. Kouga tore off the sleeve of her kimono with his teeth, and Buffy saw him tense for another leap.

Kagura pulled something out of her hair, and in the next instant, she had jumped aboard a giant white flying carpet thing, and was wafting up, out of reach of the enraged wolf. 

Kouga jumped high, higher than Buffy would have thought possible, but he still missed Kagura's escape pod by several feet.

Buffy heard her laughing as the wind lifted her higher and higher into the sky. 

oo0oo

When Kagura saw Naraku's dark cloud spiral up to the sky, rage at his abandonment gave her exhausted limbs new strength. He was _fleeing_, leaving her behind to serve as the wolf-prince's dinner!

_Oh, no. I won't be your sacrifice! _she thought. 

Another near-miss from the wolf's jaws, and she was able to whip the magic feather from her hair, finally making her escape on a hastily-conjured updraft. 

She was alive. But pain ruled her world--in addition to the damage inflicted by the miko's purifying arrow, she had lost several large chunks of flesh to the wolf's hungry jaws.

Kagura derived some satisfaction from knowing that she had injured him as well, though not enough to penetrate his rage and slow him down. 

_Higher, higher. Almost free of the castle. _

Then, she looked down, and saw Kohaku, sprawled unconscious in the ruins. She huffed in exasperation--returning would be dangerous, but unlike Naraku, she wouldn't leave the boy behind if she could help it. They were fellow slaves here, and if they didn't watch out for each other, no one would. 

Even if he was just a human.

She steered her fragile vessel around, spiraling down. Another gust of wind sent her skimming low over the castle roof, then down to the gravel courtyard, past Kouga's startled muzzle, and over to the edge of the pillared verandah. 

Kagura reached out in passing, and caught the boy by the collar of his armor-suit, hauling him on board. She felt like screaming at the pain in her arm, but she managed to get him safely positioned in her lap. 

"No!" she heard someone scream, and looked back over her shoulder to see Kohaku's sister sprinting toward them. 

But they were already aloft again, and rapidly leaving the building behind. Kagura braced herself for one last nasty surprise--more purifying arrows, perhaps--but nothing came. 

The wind carried them in Naraku's stinking wake. Kagura sat stiffly upright on her feather, holding on to the battered boy with one hand, and directing their passage with subtle movements of her fan with the other. 

She had done it. She had survived the invaders. 

Unfortunately, so had her master. 

_Those pitifully weak humans and youkai! They failed again!_

Someday...someday, she would finally escape Naraku's clutches. She would reclaim her heart from whatever corner her master was hiding it, and then she would fly away. 

She was the mistress of the winds. 

And yet, the smallest breeze possessed what she did not: freedom. 


	20. Puppy Love

18 18. Puppy Love

_Naraku's Castle, late 16th-century Japan_

"KOHAKU!" Sango screamed, stumbling to a halt on the verandah as the giant feather carrying Kohaku and Kagura disappeared over the castle rooftop.

She fell to her knees, head bowed, shoulders shaking. 

Maybe Japanese folks weren't into hugging, but Buffy didn't care. She knelt next to Sango, and gathered the other girl in her arms, patting her back. 

In between sobs, she heard Sango's disjointed words: "..._bastard_...kill him...took Kohaku...couldn't...save him..." 

And realized that the youkai taijya wasn't overcome with sorrow as much as with frustrated rage...and the sense of failure. 

_Yeah, sometimes all you can do is cry like a girl,_ Buffy thought sympathetically, and wished she had some Kleenex to offer her friend. 

Sango's breakdown was brief. She had wiped her eyes and rose to her feet, her face composed once more into its usual serene, slightly sad expression. 

"Thank you, Buffy-chan," she said, a little hoarse. "We should go find the others now."

oo0oo

The first things Kagome noticed were all the different kinds of pain. A large, throbbing cloud of pain behind her eyes, filling her skull with reddish-brown agony. A sharp, stabbing pain in her side every time she took a breath. A fiery stripe of pain across her upper arm. And dull, bruised pain from her lower back and bottom.

All in all, she regretted her slow return to consciousness. The last thing she remembered was--

Her eyes snapped open, and sunlight stabbed them, painfully. She immediately closed them again, but not before she noticed that she had somehow gotten out of that awful room, and that Inuyasha's red-clad legs were standing right in front of her. 

They were alive. _But how?_

Still keeping her eyes closed, Kagome took an assessment. She was sitting on the ground. Cool stone at her back. Fresh air, smelling only faintly of the thick rotten-meat stench that had clouded the inside of the castle. Someone--a woman--nearby, crying.

And Inuyasha was still alive, still with her. She remembered she had been very frightened. There had been something--

A shadow fell across her face, mercifully blocking the sun. 

"Kagome?" Inuyasha's voice was low. Worried. 

With an effort, she opened her eyes, focusing on the leg right in front of her. Smiling was more than she could manage. And she thought that her head might explode if she moved it to look up at his face. 

But she felt vastly relieved.

"Inu...yasha," she managed. Her throat was sore, and she had a foul taste in her mouth.

"Are you all right?" he demanded. She saw the curved, battered blade of Tetsusaiga dangling from his hand, and realized he was standing guard over her. 

"M-monster?" God, how she wanted a drink of water! 

"You got him, Kagome." He sounded...proud. "I put his shard in your vial."

She blinked, trying to marshal her thoughts._ I got him? Me?_ There had been tentacles...and teeth. She definitely remembered the teeth. "But how...?" 

"Shh. Don't try to talk too much. The others'll be back soon." 

He squatted beside her, still vigiliantly gazing out at the castle courtyard, and patted her left shoulder, possibly the only place on her body that didn't hurt. 

A breeze blew his long hair sideways, across her face and neck, where the silky strands clung like a caress. 

His long.._.black_...hair. 

"You killed that thing. Blew it away like-" He made an emphatic gesture with his free hand, giving her his familiar, cocky smirk as she turned her head and stared at his profile--his wholly human profile--in horror.

"W--what did I do to you?" She liked his dark-haired, dark-eyed human form nearly as much as she liked him as a silver-haired, golden-eyed hanyou --but it was the wrong time of the month. And it was full daylight. Inuyasha wasn't supposed to transform to human for another two weeks, and then only for a single night. 

"Inuyasha," she said again, lifting her left hand with an effort, and touching the smooth curve of his human ear. "Did I? Oh, I'm sorry--I didn't mean to--I'm so sorry!"

He caught her hand in his. "Eh, don't be stupid. You did what you had to. As for this--I'm sure it'll wear off." He hesitated, and she sensed the uncertainty beneath his bluster. "Eventually."

"And if it doesn't?" She clung to his hand. His fingers were still long and slender, but tipped with rounded nails rather than his usual claws. 

He shrugged, not looking at her. "It will. It _has_ to." 

She saw the muscles working in his jaw. "Human or hanyou, you're still my...friend," she said, quietly. "As long as your heart remains Inuyasha, I don't care what you look like." 

"Keh. I hate being a puny, weak human! Can't protect you. Can't even protect myself!" He released her hand and stood up, holding Tetsusaiga at the ready. Still guarding her.

"I'm sorry," Kagome said, again. She leaned her head against the wall supporting her back, and closed her eyes.

The sobbing had stopped at some point while she had been talking to Inuyasha, she noted, wearily. And it worried her that it hurt so much to breathe. Should she return through the well, and go to the hospital?

Then she remembered that Minamide-sensei had sealed the well. She let her shoulders slump. 

She felt cold despite the sunlight, a deep icy shiver that settled in her bones and made her teeth chatter. Kagome tried to stop it, because shivering awoke the pain in her side.

Then she heard Buffy's voice. "Who the hell are _you_? And what did you do to Kagome?"

oo0oo 

He was wearing a red outfit that looked just Inuyasha's, but she didn't recognize the kid with the long black hair and the sword standing over Kagome. 

Who was sitting against the wall near the castle gate, hunched over. She looked bad--her face was sickly-pale with a grayish tint, and she was shivering. _Going into shock_, Buffy thought, recognizing the signs. 

And where the hell was Inuyasha? Was this another one of Naraku's tricks? 

The kid's face assumed a very familiar scowl when he saw her, and Buffy felt a shock of recognition just as Sango said, "Buffy-chan, that is Inu--" 

"_Inuyasha_?" Buffy asked, incredulously.

His scowl deepened. "Yeah." He brandished his katana. "Fucking sword won't transform when I'm...like _this_." 

Buffy let out a sigh of relief. It was definitely him--that pissed-off tone hadn't changed at all. "Take off your jacket, " she ordered.

"_What?_"

"I said, take off your jacket. And put it over Kagome. Hurry!"

He glanced down, noticed the shivering, and obeyed without further protest. In another minute, he was draping it around Kagome, gently helping her arms into the sleeves. He murmured something to her that Buffy didn't catch, but Kagome shook her head. 

"I'm--I'm all right," she said, her teeth chattering. 

Inuyasha stood up again, but he kept looking down at her with a worried frown. 

Buffy took the opportunity to study him. His facial features were still essentially the same, so was his hairstyle, though the shining mane was now as dark as a raven's wing. But he looked younger--and much more Japanese--without the white hair and yellow eyes.

"What? What are you staring at, bitch?" His glance slid sideways, then back down to where Kagome was huddled.

"Just wondering what happened. Not that you don't look pretty hot as a brunette," Buffy couldn't help saying. 

Not only was it sure to get a rise out of him, it was true. 

Inuyasha blushed a little, then snarled at her. The expression was much less intimidating without his fangs, though. 

"I purified him...by accident," Kagome said, weakly. 

"But she kicked that demon's ass," Inuyasha added, with an air of satisfaction. 

"Kagome! Inuyasha!" Shippou called, an instant before he streaked through the gate, and made a beeline for them. 

Inuyasha scooped him up before he could reach Kagome, and with a grimace, tossed him to Buffy. She caught the little kitsune reflexively. 

"He's gone! I saw him leave!" Shippou said. "Naraku's _gone_! And you're human, Inuyasha! Why are you human?"

Inuyasha scowled, and turned his face away. Shippou began twisting and pushing back against Buffy, trying to wriggle out of her arms.

"Shippou, don't," said Buffy, tightening her grip on his clothing. "Kagome's hurt."

The little guy's face crumpled in dismay, and Buffy hastily added: "Can you go fetch the first-aid kit? And maybe some water?"

He nodded, eagerly, and Buffy let him leap from her arms. Shippou paused long enough to ask Inuyasha, "What's wrong with her? She isn't gonna die, is she?"

"You little moron!" growled Inuyasha. "She just got knocked around a little. She'll be fine."

Kagome added: "I'm okay, Shippou. Just really...bruised."

When Shippou had gone back out the gate, running for the bikes and their gear as fast as his little paws would go, Inuyasha turned his glare on Buffy, and on Sango, who was standing nearby, leaning wearily on Hiraikotsu.

"You two!" he growled. "How could you let that bastard get away?"

Buffy bit back the angry retort that rose to her lips--she didn't want to rub in Inuyasha's own incapacity--but Sango looked like she was ready to cry again. 

"I'm so sorry, Inuyasha. We tried our best. But we failed." She bowed deeply, her ponytail falling forward. "I'm so very sorry!"

Inuyasha, to his credit, looked profoundly discomfited by Sango's reaction. He gave what sounded like a forced laugh. "Eh, I should be glad you left that bastard to me. It would have been too boring to see a villain like Naraku lose to two girls!"

All of this would have sounded more convincing, thought Buffy, if he wasn't human at the moment. But she kept her mouth shut, not wanting to upset Sango--or Inuyasha--any further. 

Instead she looked around the courtyard, and spotted Mirokou making his way slowly toward them. He was leaning on his staff, limping a little. 

"Hey, what happened to the wolf guy? Um, Kouga?" called Buffy. 

"Gone," replied Miroku. 

His dark monk's robes were smeared with dirt, but he didn't look seriously injured. He had a number of items gathered under one arm, and Buffy recognized Kouga's fur kilt and leggings, as well as his sword and armor. "The last I saw of him, he was racing after Kagura's feather." 

"Must have been a helluva fight," commented Buffy, looking around. 

The courtyard showed signs of a terrific struggle--spots of blood and scattered debris and giant paw-prints everywhere. 

"Was Kouga-kun okay?" Even injured, Kagome seemed to be more concerned about the others. 

"That wimpy wolf? Don't make me laugh," said Inuyasha. 

Miroku frowned. "What happened to you, Inuyasha? It's not the n--" he shot a glance at Buffy. "Um, it's not your usual time."

"It's my fault!" Kagome said, from her place on the ground. "I didn't mean to do it."

Inuyasha shrugged. "I think I can feel my powers starting to return, a little. Maybe by nightfall, I'll be...my usual self again." 

Buffy noticed that despite his usual habit of verbal abuse, he hadn't yet said a single thing to blame Kagome for his predicament. _Yeah, there's a nice guy in there. He just hides it really, really well. _

Everyone nodded at his prediction, but their expressions were more hopeful than convinced. He was the strongest one, thought Buffy, and if the transformation didn't wear off, they'd all be in really deep doo-doo. 

"But did we get what we came for?" asked Miroku. 

"We got a shard," Inuyasha offered, a little defensively.

Sango's shoulders slumped. 

"No," Buffy said, tasting failure like a bitter pill. "Naraku got away. With the Portal Key. I--we--weren't strong enough to stop him." _In this time and this place, I'm not strong enough._

"But--" Kagome started to say, her eyes wide. 

Then a howling whirlwind descended, ripping up tiles from the roof. 

"Run!" shouted Inuyasha, scooping up Kagome. She cried out as his arms tightened around her. 

The rest of them followed his lead, running for the edge of the forest as fast as their exhausted bodies would take them. They met Shippou, who was staggering gamely along under the weight of the first-aid case and one of Kagome's plastic liter bottles of water.

Buffy looked back, and saw the castle begin to disintegrate, fragments of tiles and building blocks and beams swept up into the heart of the whirlwind. 

In a few minutes, only bare ground remained where the castle had been. The great dark tornado spun off, presumably following its master to parts unknown. 

"Wow--that gives new meaning to the term 'portable housing,'" said Buffy, and received blank looks from the others. 

oo0oo

They made it as far as the hot springs that evening, after a long, painful journey for Kagome. When it became apparent that neither walking, biking, nor riding on Inuyasha's back were bearable to her injuries, Miroku took charge of Kagome's bike and Kagome rode on Kirara with Sango. 

They made camp at sunset and Buffy managed to shoo Inuyasha from Kagome's side long enough to examine her. 

The cut that Kagura had inflicted was the easiest to treat--a bit of disinfectant and a bandage, and nature would take care of the rest. Then Buffy ordered Miroku and a seething Inuyasha to turn their backs.

"And no peeking," Sango said sternly, hefting Hiraikotsu. 

Buffy lifted Kagome's blouse, and sucked in her breath in sympathy. 

"That's gotta hurt like a bitch," she muttered, gently probing Kagome's back and sides. There was barely an inch of skin on her ribs and torso that wasn't purplish-red with giant bruises. 

Kagome gasped and whimpered a little as Buffy ran her fingers over the bruised areas, feeling for broken bones. 

Inuyasha's hands clenched into fists every time Kagome made a sound. 

Buffy finished her examination at the back of Kagome's head. Also bruised, but she couldn't feel any obvious lumps. 

"How long was she unconscious?" Buffy asked Inuyasha.

"Just long enough for me to carry her outside," he replied.

"Headache? Blurry vision? Nausea?" she asked Kagome, briskly. 

"Just a headache...but I think that's from using my power to, um, purify the youkai who was attacking us." Kagome threw a guilt-stricken glance at Inuyasha' waist-length hair. It was still dark, though Buffy noticed a few pale streaks, like sudden highlights. 

Inuyasha whirled around as soon as Buffy stood up. "Well? How is she?"

"Badly bruised, and she probably has a couple of cracked ribs, though I'm not sure about that. No concussion though, and no major trauma." Buffy smiled at his worried expression. "A few days of rest, and she'll be fine. She's gonna be hurting tomorrow, though," she added, with a grimace. "Kagome-chan, do you have any Tylenol? Motrin?" At Kagome's blank look, she clarified: "Painkillers?"

"Oh. Yes." At Kagome's words, Shippou dug in her pack and pulled out a bottle of Panadol. "Thank you, Shippou-chan."

"What have you done to my woman, Inu-koro?" came a weary voice from the bushes nearby. "I thought you were supposed to protect her!"

Kouga staggered into view. He was naked, and covered with dried blood from a multitude of deep slashes, but despite his beaten-up appearance, he seemed as confident as ever. Sango and Kagome both blushed and hastily looked away. 

"Yeah, you look like you did a whole lot better against Kagura," Inuyasha retorted. "Did you bring back her scalp, like you swore to do?" 

Kouga shook his head. "I tracked her for several hours, but then I lost her scent."

"Hah!" Inuyasha said, nastily, but for once, he stayed at Kagome's side instead of trying to punch Kouga's lights out. 

Buffy squinted through the gathering darkness, giving Kouga the once-over--_not bad, not bad at all, but really needs a bath_--then reached over to the pile of stuff that Miroku had rescued, and threw him his fur kilt. "Here you go, nature boy!"

He caught it, and a second later, was at least decent enough that Sango could look him in the eye. 

Speaking of looking...it was getting awfully dark now that the sun had set. Buffy went to fetch Kagome's lantern from the pile of camping gear. In its harsh, white light, she saw that Inuyasha was slowly but surely reverting to his hanyou form. 

He was still only partially transformed at this point--his hair was heavily streaked with white now, his black eyes had paled to dark amber, but he still only had minimal claws and the barest hint of his fangs. At least he was definitely changing back. 

"Buffy-chan?" Kagome asked. She had wrapped herself in Inuyasha's jacket again, and Buffy saw little more than a few wisps of dark hair and the tip of her nose peeking out from under the scarlet wool. "Kouga-kun is hurt. Could you...?"

"Sure." She picked up the first-aid case, and looked at Kouga. "Shippou, Miroku, could you fetch a bucket of hot water from the spring?"

The wolf-prince sat obediently as Buffy sponged him off with warm water and a cloth. He had numerous deep slashes and bruises, and looked like he'd lost a lot of blood, but he turned aside Sango's attempts to bandage him with a smile and an imperious gesture. 

"They've already stopped bleeding," he said, his gaze fastened on Kagome. "But I have a favor to ask of you." He looked almost abashed. 

"Anything, Kouga-kun!" Kagome chirped, and Inuyasha grimaced. 

_Careful what you ask for, wolfie_, thought Buffy. 

"May I impose on your hospitality for one night? I need somewhere...safe...to sleep."

"If he's like other youkai, he'll be helpless while he's in a healing sleep," murmured Sango to Buffy. "He really trusts Kagome-chan, neh?"

Kagome was blushing. "Of course you can, Kouga-kun!"

The wolf-prince inclined his head. "Thank you." 

"Keh!" said Inuyasha. "I guess I can stand guard over that wimpy wolf for one night, since I'm going to have my powers back soon."

"You try anything, Inu-koro, and I'll skin you and turn you into a winter cloak," Kouga said, interrupting himself with a huge yawn. 

oo0oo

Exhausted from the fight, but ravenous, they ate a hastily prepared meal of packaged noodles and canned stew from Kagome's bottomless pack. 

Inuyasha noisily began slurping up his portion. 

Kouga sniffed suspiciously at his bowl, then dug in cautiously. 

"Mmmm, good," he said, after swallowing the first mouthful. "Salty. I like this food from your realm, Kagome."

After Buffy, Miroku, and Sango washed up, no one seemed much inclined to talk around the campfire. Naraku's escape weighed heavily on all their spirits. 

Kouga was actually drooping, despite the silent grimaces and snarls he was exchanging with Inuyasha, and Sango briskly supplied him with a blanket. He thanked her--if nothing else, he had better manners than the dog-boy, thought Buffy--then curled up next to the fire and was almost instantly asleep.

"Isn't life interesting, Buffy-chan?" whispered Sango, as she rejoined Buffy and began to help untie and roll out Kagome's sleeping bag and pillow. "I grew up learning how to exterminate youkai, yet, in Kagome-chan's presence, I seem to spend a lot of time making friends with them. And bandaging them up." 

Buffy grinned. "Yeah, and I'm the vampire slayer who's had two vampire boyfriends, right? Life _is_ pretty strange. But mostly...pretty good."

Sango bowed her head, her expression remote again. "I'm glad you think so, Buffy-chan." 

Buffy sighed, and patted Sango on the shoulder. "You'll rescue Kohaku, someday soon. I know you will."

"Hai," Sango said, listlessly. She moved away, and putting Hiraikotsu down within easy reach, stretched out next to Kirara and closed her eyes. After casting an anxious glance at Kagome's huddled form, Shippou slipped between Kirara and Sango, and let his head rest on the firecat's flank.

Inuyasha and Miroku had already taken up their usual stations on either side of the campfire, sitting cross-legged against convenient tree trunks, their weapons placed across their knees. 

"Wake Sango and me in a few hours," Buffy said. "You guys need some sleep, too." 

Miroku inclined his head. "That is very thoughtful of you, Buffy-sama."

Inuyasha merely shrugged. "Eh, I don't need much sleep. I'm different from you wimpy humans...and someone should keep an eye on that smelly wolf."

Who hadn't moved a muscle since closing his eyes. Only the gentle movement of his chest indicated that Kouga was still alive. 

"Whatever," said Buffy, rolling her eyes. 

Inuyasha still looked mostly human to her...and as dead-tired as the rest of them. _But if he wants to act like a tough guy_...She smothered a yawn and tended to her final task of the evening. 

Buffy picked up Kagome's sleeping bag and pillow, and dragged them over to the base of the nearest tree. Then she helped Kagome to her feet, and fed her another dose of Panadol. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

"Here, why don't you lean up against this?" Buffy suggested, helping Kagome climb into the sleeping bag, and zipping it up for her. "Just from personal experience with broken ribs, it's better to sleep sitting up."

Inuyasha wasn't looking at them, but Buffy saw his ears twitch at Kagome's sharp gasps as she tried to settle herself into a comfortable position

"Thank you for taking such good care of me, Buffy-chan," Kagome said listlessly. 

Buffy touched the other girl's cheek. "I'll leave the bottle of water and the pills here, in case you need them. Good night, Kagome. I hope you feel better in the morning."

oo0oo

It was very late--or very early. 

Everyone else, even Miroku, had fallen asleep hours ago, but Inuyasha was still awake, relishing the stinging pulse of his youkai blood as it reclaimed his body. His transformation from human to hanyou was usually damned near instantaneous, but this time, it had taken hours. 

But at least now he knew he wouldn't be trapped in his human form forever. 

His ears twitched at Kagome's soft cry as she woke up yet again from having relaxed too far from her sitting position. Shit, how he hated to see her like this! It made him feel so damned helpless. 

With a soft growl, he rose and went over to her. Her eyes were closed, but he sensed she was awake...and in a great deal of pain. He struggled with the cap on the jar of pills for a few seconds, then simply plunged one clawed finger through the jar's soft side, and shook out two or three tablets into his hand through the hole he'd made. "Here." 

She opened her eyes. "Inuyasha," she whispered, and bent her head. With a pleasant shock that tightened the muscles in his belly, he felt the brush of her lips against his palm as she took the pills. 

His cheeks heated, and he snatched his hand away as if she'd burned it. He grabbed blindly for the water bottle that Buffy had left. 

She drank, and let her head loll back against the rough wood of the trunk behind her. "Thank you." 

He sighed, and picked her up, still swaddled in the cocoon-like shell of the sleeping bag, bracing himself for her gasp of pain as he moved her. 

"What are you--?"

He sank down in the place she'd just been, and settled her into his lap. 

"You need to sleep," he said. Her scent, her wonderful scent, rose from the folds of the sleeping bag to envelop him in a sense of comfort, of rightness. "And you keep falling over."

"Hmmm." Her eyelids fell shut again, and he felt her head come to rest just under his collarbone.

He heard the barest whisper of a growl. Kouga was awake, and sitting up. The wimpy wolf looked dazed and heavy-eyed in the faint red fireglow. "Inu-koro," he mumbled. "You'd better not be..."

It had been Inuyasha's recurring nightmare for months that, one day, he'd see Kouga bear Kagome away, and she'd go willingly. 

But Kagome was in _his_ arms now, her head on _his_ shoulder, and it was _his_ nose that was filled with her scent. Inuyasha raised his chin and coldly stared down the yourouzoku.

Narrow-eyed with displeasure, but clearly unable to resist his healing body's imperative to go back to sleep, Kouga stared back for a few seconds, then turned his back on them and curled up. Within a few moments, Inuyasha heard the pattern of his breathing slow as Kouga fell back into the deep healing sleep of the youkai. 

Inuyasha let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding, and relaxed back against the tree. 

"Sleep, Kagome," he whispered, adjusting her weight across his lap. "I'll make sure you don't fall."

Her eyes heavy-lidded and her movements languid with sleep, she smiled up at him. 

Time stopped for Inuyasha. He had Kagome in his arms, and he wanted very badly to kiss her. But... 

If he kissed Kagome now, what would happen? Of all the people he had ever known, she had been the first to look at him, a despised hanyou, and see _him_. Not human. Not youkai. Not a polluted half-breed. But simply...Inuyasha. 

She believed in him. Thought he was good, and kind, and noble. And because she believed it, he tried to be all those things. Because he couldn't bear to disappoint her. 

And yet he did disappoint her, time after time. 

She had been so broken-hearted when she saw him embrace the replica that still held a remnant of Kikyou's spirit. What Kagome didn't know, what he couldn't bear to say out loud, was that Kikyou's kiss had broken his heart, too. 

He had wanted that kiss so badly while Kikyou lived, and to receive it now, from porcelain-cold lips that smelled of decayed earth and broken bones...it had been more than he could bear. He had sworn to protect Kikyou, had bound himself to her, but he was also bound to Kagome by ties that somehow ran deeper than duty and loyalty.

He was afraid. If he let Kagome fully into his heart, how badly would she make him suffer? 

_You're a fucking coward, Inuyasha. Don't you already suffer when she's injured...or when she goes away to her world? _

But still he hesitated, torn between the promise of Kagome's warmth and his lonely but safe habit of self-denial. _Don't ever reveal a weakness. They'll use it against you._

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kouga's ear twitch. The wolf-prince _might_ be asleep. Or maybe he was just waiting for his chance to take Kagome away...

Without another thought, Inuyasha bent his head, and kissed her.

oo0oo

It still hurt to breathe, the ribs on Kagome's right side protesting every lungful of air, but between the tablets and the fact that she was currently nestled against Inuyasha's chest, the pain had receded to bearable levels. 

She was pleasantly warm, bundled in her sleeping bag...and in his arms. Her cheek was resting against the rough fabric of his haori, and if she looked up, she could see the smooth, pale curve of his jaw and cheek. 

He drew her closer, somehow knowing that turning her just a fraction of a degree closer to him would miraculously ease some of the pressure on her aching ribs. 

"Sleep, Kagome," he said in his rough whisper. "I'll make sure you don't fall."

No, he would never let her fall. He acted so tough and defensive most of the time, and yet, whenever she got sick or injured, the façade dropped, and she saw the gentle, compassionate person he really was. 

He was staring down at her with an odd expression on his face. Not his usual cockiness, or familiar annoyance. He looked...intensely hungry, like a starving person forced to watch others eating.

Kagome felt a deep shiver of anticipation, and her cheeks heated. But she couldn't move, couldn't speak. She didn't want to break the spell. How often had she daydreamed about a moment like this? Alone with Inuyasha, and his arms around her...

He bent suddenly and before she had comprehended that he was _really_ going to do it, something warm and soft touched her lips. 

He was kissing her. Of his own free will. 

_Oh_. 

She forgot about her sleeping companions, the pain from her sore muscles and battered ribs, his commitment to Kikyo. Nothing mattered, except that his mouth was on hers.

_My second kiss_, she thought. _And it's Inuyasha...again. I don't want it ever to be anyone else._

Their first kiss had been born of fear and his desperate clinging to the humanity he'd so nearly lost at Kaguya's hands. She had been terrified, and it wasn't until afterwards that she could stop and think about the fact that they had kissed at last. 

This time, there were no enemies lurking, no danger to flee. It was just the two of them in the quiet darkness. Kagome closed her eyes and simply enjoyed the sensation of his mouth against hers. 

He was very gentle, very tentative, as if she were something precious, something breakable. _He isn't used to kissing_, she realized suddenly, and that made her happy. 

If he was going to get used to kissing anyone, she wanted it to be her. 

Yuka-chan had warned her once that boys liked sticking their tongues in your mouth. _Gross!_ But Inuyasha's kiss wasn't like that. It was just..._nice_. And it was making her feel warm and tingly in places a long way from her lips. She didn't think she'd mind even if he _did_ try to stick his tongue in her mouth. That might feel..._nice_...too.

After a timeless interval, she tried to free her arm from the sleeping bag to draw him closer, and the sudden pain reminded her that she _was_ breakable. 

He drew back, looking dismayed. "I'm hurting you. I'm sorry." His mouth tightened in that familiar expression of _I did something wrong_, and she felt her heart contract.

"No." She wanted him to kiss her again. What if she was dreaming this? What if he wanted to pretend it hadn't happened--like their first kiss? "No, you're not hurting me. You never would."

Her hand finally escaped its captivity in the sleeping bag, and she reached up to touch his hair--finally silver again--his velvety ears, the side of his face.

He gave her a shy, radiant smile, and leaned his cheek into her palm. He was looking down at her as if she were the best, the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. 

She liked that. She liked _him_. She liked everything about him, even the parts that weren't human. It made him...unique. 

"Inuyasha, will you--do you mind--" Why was it so hard to ask? Why was she so afraid that he'd recoil, say _no_? "Please kiss me again?"

And he did. 


	21. Not Before That First Cup of Coffee

19 19. Not Before That First Cup of Coffee

_Somewhere in late 16th-century Japan_

Buffy's eyes flew open. _Oh, damn! I overslept!_

For one panicked moment, still groggy from a dream where she was walking down endless hallways, frantically looking for the exam room, she wondered what the hell she was doing in the middle of a forest. _Did I forget about my midterms and go camping?_

Then it all came back to her. She was in feudal Japan, thousands of miles--and hundreds of years--away from UC Sunnydale. 

Buffy relaxed back onto the hard ground with a sigh. Miroku and Inuyasha hadn't come to wake her for second watch, nor had they roused Sango. The youkai-taijya was still curled up against Kirara's furry bulk, little Shippou sandwiched between them. 

Was _anyone_ standing guard over the campsite? 

Blinking, Buffy raised her head and scanned her surroundings. It was still pretty dark, but the eastern sky was turning that shade of silvery gray that meant the sun was about to rise. 

_The wolf prince? Nope_. A dark ponytail spread out from a blanket-covered mound next to the extinct campfire--Kouga was apparently still dead to the world. 

So was Miroku, his dark robes blending with the shadows that clouded the edge of the forest. 

Inuyasha was sitting upright against a nearby tree-trunk, his red kimono-thingy looking dark gray in the half-light. At some point during the night, Kagome had crawled into his lap, sleeping bag and all. She was fast asleep, her head on his shoulder, her mouth slightly open. 

His eyes were closed, too, and his cheek was resting on the top of Kagome's head in a totally sweet pose, but he wasn't asleep--or at least not deeply asleep. As soon as Buffy sat up, she saw his ears twitch at the slithery nylon sound of her sleeping bag. 

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes. Buffy grinned at him conspiratorially, happy that he'd finally loosened up enough to show his girl a little affection. 

_Took him long enough_, she thought, remembering Kagome's confession at the hot spring a few days ago.

His eyes widened and he started, looking alarmed and guilty at the same. Kagome stirred with a soft moan as his arms tightened around her, and her eyelids fluttered. "Wha--?" she mumbled. 

She turned her face, and sleepily kissed his neck. "Mmm." A smile curved her mouth. She looked tousled and blissfully happy.

Inuyasha made a strangled sound, and all but dumped her off his lap. 

"Kagome!" he whispered, looking positively panicked. "Don't do that!"

_Jerk!_ thought Buffy, indignantly.

"What? Why?" Now sprawled on the ground in front of Inuyasha, Kagome struggled to free herself from her sleeping bag. 

"--someone's _watching_!" finished Inuyasha. His yellow gaze returned to Buffy.

"Oh!" Finally awake, Kagome looked around, wide-eyed. 

The sleeping bag slipped down around her waist, revealing pajamas--_pink, of course_--printed with a pattern of little dogs. They were schnauzers.

Buffy sighed. "Chill out, you two. It's just me."

"I--we didn't--" Kagome said, then stumbled to a halt. She stared up at Inuyasha, a little apprehensively. "Did we?" 

"I don't think he got past first base," said Buffy. "Kinda hard to do anything really fun, I mean, uh, really _bad_ with a busted rib."

Kagome looked down. It was still too dark to see clearly, but Buffy was willing to bet her friend was blushing furiously.

"Keh! You're the one who told her to sleep sitting up!" Inuyasha was scowling now. "And she kept falling over! That's all! So, stop with the stupid talk. It wasn't like _that_!"

"Ooookay," drawled Buffy, trying really hard not to laugh. 

Why was the dog-boy making such a big deal of this? Was touching a girl you weren't married to, like, totally against the rules in 1500's Japan?

Kagome looked embarrassed, mortified, and hurt by turns, and Buffy suddenly didn't feel like laughing any more. 

"Don't worry," Buffy said, to Inuyasha. "I won't tell anyone if you don't. But, really, why all the secrecy? What's the big deal?" 

His face darkened. "I'm a hanyou. And she--she's..._n__ot_."

Puzzled, Buffy just stared at him. _Is he being a snob?_

He looked really mad now. "If anyone saw us, they'd think I--I was...defiling her." 

Kagome's brows drew down in a frown. "But we're among friends here! Miroku--Sango--they wouldn't--"

He hunched his shoulders. "Doesn't matter. I just don't want--want anyone thinking badly of you, Kagome."

"But--" She reached out for him, and he flinched back. 

Apparently forgetting Buffy's presence, they sat in miserable silence for a minute or two, just gazing at each other with tortured expressions. 

Kagome looked like she wanted to cry. So did Inuyasha, actually, though he was trying to disguise it with a sneer.

_Poor kid_, thought Buffy. She wondered how much Sango had been whitewashing the deal with hanyou kids in this time and place. Someone like Inuyasha was getting a pretty raw deal if just hugging a girl was considered "defiling" her. _Guess he has good reasons for being so cranky all the time. _

"Um," Buffy said, finally, clearing her throat. "Since we're all awake, you wanna get breakfast started?"

"I'll go gather some wood," Inuyasha said, looking relieved.

He was up and gone so quickly that Buffy could have sworn he was running away. 

"Hey," Buffy said, softly. "How are you feeling this morning, Kagome?"

Kagome sighed deeply, looking at the patch of trees where Inuyasha had vanished. "I--I think I don't wish to talk about it, quite yet."

"I mean, uh, how are your back and ribs feeling?" 

"Oh!" Kagome gave an embarrassed chuckle, stretched cautiously, and winced. "Really sore...but a little better than yesterday."

Buffy nodded. "Just keep taking the Panadol, okay? It'll keep the swelling down on those bruises." 

She wriggled out of her sleeping bag, reluctantly leaving its warmth for the chilly morning air, and stretched. She was feeling a little stiff herself from getting thrown around yesterday, but moving around a bit would solve that. 

"So, what do you want for breakfast?" she asked, digging through the supplies in Kagome's pack. "Ramen...or ramen?" 

oo0oo

The others were awake and stirring by the time Inuyasha returned with an armful of fallen branches. He energetically snapped them into short lengths as Buffy used the cigarette lighter that Kagome had thoughtfully brought along to rekindle the fire. 

Breaking stuff seemed to calm him down, and he was back to normal by the time the last of the wood had been reduced to campfire-size chunks.

Kouga was the last to wake. Everyone else had already gone down to the stream to wash their hands and faces, and they were unpacking their chopsticks and bowls when the wolf-prince finally sat up.

He was a bit rumpled-looking, but Buffy noticed that yesterday's deep slashes across his torso, back, and arms were little more than pink scars now. He caught her staring at his bare chest, and blushed, which was really sort of cute and appealing in a guy, even a demon guy. 

The fire had settled down to a nice glowing bed of coals by now. Buffy turned away and set the kettle on the grate to heat water for the ramen, tea, and--most importantly--coffee. 

"Oi, Kagome," Kouga said, a minute or two later, dressed in his leggings and armor once again. 

"Good morning, Kouga-kun," she said, politely. "How are you feeling this morning?"

In an instant, he was standing next to her, his fingers laced with hers, looking down at her with that goofy expression. "Much better, thanks to your kindness." 

Inuyasha stopped shoving wood onto the fire, and glared at the wolf-prince. Buffy could have sworn she heard an honest-to-goodness growl issuing from the dog-boy's chest.

Kagome gave Inuyasha a nervous look, and tried to pull her hand out of Kouga's grasp. "Ah, Kouga-kun, would you like some breakfast?"

His face lit up. "I know how I can repay you! I'll get you some _real_ breakfast, Kagome! Wait for me! I won't be long!"

Then he was gone in a whirl of dust and leaves. 

"I wonder, Kagome-sama," said Miroku, thoughtfully. "What a wolf-youkai would consider a real breakfast."

"I hope he doesn't steal livestock from those villagers up the road," Sango said, in a concerned tone. "They didn't like youkai to begin with, and it would be...awkward...if they hired us to exterminate him." 

"I'd do it for _free_," said Inuyasha, examining the claws on his right hand. He didn't sound like he was joking. 

"Maybe Kouga found a Starbuck's in the next village," Buffy said. "I'd kill for a latte right about now."

Kagome giggled. Everyone else gave her a politely puzzled stare. 

"Never mind," said Buffy.

oo0oo

When the kettle was finally boiling, Sango made a pot of tea, and used the rest for the ramen. 

Well, it wasn't a very big kettle, Buffy thought, disappointed. She took it down to the stream and refilled it. Next batch of water, and she'd _finally_ get her coffee.

She returned to the campfire to find that Kouga was back. 

Contrary to Sango's fears, it appeared that he hadn't raided anyone's chickens or cows, after all. He was standing next to the fire, proudly hefting the fruits of his early-morning hunting trip...Buffy frowned. 

_Rabbits?_ She got closer, and saw Kagome's expression of frozen horror. An expression mirrored by Sango. Then, she saw for herself. 

Half-a-dozen large rats, hanging upside-down, their tails clenched in Kouga's fist. 

"Ewwwwwww!" Buffy exclaimed, before she could stop herself.

Kouga looked genuinely hurt. "You don't like them? They're really fat, too--I caught them in the granary of that village just down the road." He turned to Kagome. "See? When you're my woman, I'll feed you well. You'll have meat every day, not just those salty noodles in broth." 

He offered his prizes to her. She shrank back a little. "Kouga-kun, I, ah...that was really, um, thoughtful of you," Kagome managed to choke out. She gingerly extended her hand, clearly steeling herself to touch the rats. 

"Keh!" A red-sleeved arm swooped in, and snatched the bundle from Kouga's hand. "I'll gut and skin them for you, Kagome. It's not like you'd know how to prepare them, anyway." 

Kagome looked at Inuyasha with the worshipful expression of someone who had just been saved from a fate worse than death. 

_Don't look too relieved_, thought Buffy. _I think we're still going to have to actually _eat_ them._

oo0oo

_Maybe roasted rat won't actually be as bad as it sounds_, Buffy thought a short while later, as she watched Inuyasha return from the woods with six skinned--and mercifully, de-tailed--rats, already skewered on slender sticks. 

No one looked enthusiastic at the prospect of eating Kouga's contribution, but no one refused, either. _These people are just too damned polite_. 

Even Inuyasha kept his snarky comments to a minimum as he stuck the skewers into the ashy perimeter of the campfire. Then again, maybe dog-boy _liked_ roasted rat. Maybe it was a youkai delicacy.

Shippou confirmed this by leaning over and taking a deep sniff. "I _love_ these!" he told Kagome. "Especially when they get all crunchy on the outside!" 

Kagome smiled weakly. "You can have some of mine, too, Shippou-chan," she said, softly, and the little kitsune grinned. 

"Really? Thanks, Kagome!"

The water was taking forever to boil, thought Buffy, spooning dark granules from her tin of instant coffee into her mug. She hoped she'd at least get her first cup before she was forced to smile and eat rat for breakfast.

Kagome knelt by the fire, keeping an eye on the rats as they cooked. Not surprisingly, she was kind of subdued. And Inuyasha, while gruffer than usual, was like a moth circling a flame, staying close to her while pointedly avoiding looking directly at her. 

His control wasn't perfect, though--Buffy caught him staring at Kagome's profile when she bent forward to rotate the skewers. With a pang, Buffy recognized his expression.

"Puppy love," she murmured. At least it seemed to be mutual. Now, if he could only get over the whole defiling thing...

"What did you say?" Kouga's head snapped around and she found herself confronted with his blue glare. 

_Oops. Forgot about the youkai super-hearing._

"Nothing," she said. 

But her gaze returned to Inuyasha, who had allowed his scowl to slip as he turned to ask Kagome something. She handed him his bowl of ramen, and their hands touched. He gave her the briefest flash of an unguarded smile. 

_Oh, wow_, thought Buffy. Inuyasha was positively...gorgeous...when he smiled like that. _You should do that more often, dog-boy_.

Kouga stiffened. "That piece of dog shit. His stink is all over her. _My_ woman." His voice was low, cold. 

He stood up. "Yo, dog-face! What do you think you're doing with my woman?" The handsome, lovelorn young man had abruptly vanished. In his place was someone--_something_--that Buffy could well believe had attacked villages and eaten human flesh. _Uh-oh_. 

Inuyasha straightened up from his place at Kagome's side, his face wearing its familiar belligerent expression. He growled. "_Your_ woman? How long are you going to keep up with that stupid talk, you wimpy wolf?"

"Until you learn your place," sneered Kouga, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Inuyasha deliberately put his arm around Kagome's shoulders. "This _is_ my place, neh, Kagome?" His eyes were narrowed, and fixed on Kouga.

"Kouga-kun," Kagome said, hesitantly, her cheeks flaming. "I don't think you--"

But Kouga's attention, predictably, was focused on his rival. "Your place, Inu-koro, is at her _heels_, not at her side. And you should be thanking the gods that she allows you, a lowly hanyou, to serve her. You're a _dog_, and not even a full-blooded one, at that. Now--down, boy!"

"Don't talk to him like that. He's not my--my pet!" Kagome said, sharply. Her cheeks were redder than ever, but from the way she was glaring, Buffy didn't think it was embarrassment this time._ Open mouth, insert foot, wolf-boy_. "He's my friend. My _best_ friend. And if you insult him, you insult me!"

"But--but, Kagome!" Kouga looked startled by her vehemence. "You can't _possibly_--"

"You heard her." Inuyasha cracked his knuckles, gleefully, and stepped forward. "We've both had enough of you, you stinking wolf. Now, I'm gonna kill you."

From the expression on Kagome's face, Buffy was pretty sure that wasn't what she had meant. 

Buffy rose to her feet. "Boys, boys--" she began, ready to break up a fight.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome said, in _that_ voice. 

He looked back at her. "Hey, don't you _dare_--"

"Osuwari!"

Inuyasha's necklace glowed, and he went down, face-first, barely missing the fire. 

Kagome winced. "Oh, sorry!"

Kouga got half of a nasty laugh out before something bonked him, hard, and he went down on his butt.

"Hey!" he snarled, looking behind him, rubbing the top of his head. 

Sango hefted Hiraikotsu. "Please do not disturb the harmony of this campsite before Buffy-chan has had her morning kou-hii," she said, sweetly, her weapon held at the ready. "She is a powerful youkai-taijya, and her temper is uncertain until after the first cup. Youkai have been dismembered...by accident..."

Kouga's eyes went wide and he stared as Buffy returned his look with as much diginity as she could muster. Then she stooped, and deliberately poured the now-boiling water into her mug.

She lifted the dark, bitter brew to her lips, and the sigh of relief in her companions was almost palpable.

Kagome was kneeling next to Inuyasha's flattened form, an apologetic hand on his shoulder. 

"Yes, yes," murmured Miroku, intently studying the rosary wrapped around his evil hand, and looking as if he were trying very hard not to smile. "This kou-hii, it is truly a powerful beverage, Kouga-sama."

oo0oo

The tension between Kouga and Inuyasha temporarily diffused, they sat down to eat breakfast

Buffy accepted a skewer, and cautiously poked at the blackened meat with a chopstick. At least it didn't look...rat-like...any more. She decided to eat her ramen, first, anyway.

"So, where shall we go now?" Miroku asked. "How will we find Naraku?"

"We'll find him," Inuyasha said, confidently. "Bastard can't hide forever." 

"Yeah, but as much as I like you guys, I have to get that Portal Key back, and soon," said Buffy. "I guess Koji could rebook my flight to Sydney if I'm not back in three days, but I only have a couple of months left on my round-the-world ticket." 

Everyone was giving her that blank look again. Buffy sighed. "I, um, booked passage on a ship, in Kagome's realm. I have to return through the well before it, um, sails without me." 

"Ah, I understand now," Miroku murmured. "Time and tide wait for no traveler?" 

"Something like that," said Buffy. "Besides, the longer Naraku has that key, the more he'll learn to do with it." 

Everyone--even Inuyasha--looked bummed at this, so Buffy added, "But it's a good sign that Sango and I forced Naraku to retreat, right? He's not invincible. In fact, he ran away..."

She stopped, a bad feeling rising in her gut. And she hadn't even tried the roasted rat yet. "Kouga-kun, in what direction did you see Naraku heading?"

He looked up from his bowl of food. "South--"

"--west," finished Kagome, looking sick. The hands holding her bowl started to shake. 

"Kagome?" asked Inuyasha, at the same time that Sango exclaimed: "Kagome-chan!"

Buffy put a hand on Kagome's shoulder, and felt her entire body trembling. "What is it, Kagome?"

"I--I've been having nightmares," Kagome whispered. "That Naraku will find a way through the well...and get to my family. Mama...Grandpa...Souta..." Her eyes unfocused, as if watching a private horror unfold. 

Buffy shuddered in sympathy. _Naraku, with a Portal Key. Heading straight for the Bone-eater's Well_. _Shit_, she thought, patting Kagome's shoulder. _We have to stop him this time._


	22. My Kingdom for a Taxi

20 20. My Kingdom for a Taxi

_Somewhere northeast of Edo, late 16th century Japan_

Kagome lost track of time as the sun rose higher in the sky, then slowly, imperceptibly, began its descent in the west, bathing her face in blinding white-hot light. It seemed that she had been struggling to stay upright on Kirara forever, her fingers stiff and aching from clutching the firecat's long, soft pelt. 

Every breath she took sent a long, blunt spear of pain through her side and chest, and every tiny movement she made to adjust her seat punished her with the nauseating sensation of bone rubbing against bone, and bright sparkles of agony drifting across her field of vision. 

She secretly doubled the dosages of Panadol during their brief rest stops, and the result was to make her feel oddly detached from what was happening, as if she were floating in a reddish fog of pain. 

At some point in the afternoon, they stopped for water and to let Miroku and Buffy catch their breath and stretch their legs. The monk was riding Kagome's bike. Inuyasha was running with his usual smooth stride, easily paced by Kouga, the two of them bounding ahead to scout out the path, occasionally taking to the treetops in the dense patches of forest.

Kagome slid slowly off Kirara's back, biting back a scream as her feet hit the ground and the impact jarred her ribs. She couldn't suppress a gasp, though, and both Inuyasha and Sango threw her sharp glances. 

"I'm--I'm okay," Kagome lied, reaching out a shaking hand for the water bottle that Sango proferred. "I just--just need to take another tablet." 

She took the battered bottle from her jacket pocket and shook out two pills through the hole Inuyasha had made. She frowned at the rattling sound--there weren't many tablets left. If traveling hurt this bad with the painkillers, she wondered whether she could move at all without them. 

But she had to. 

No matter how badly she hurt, they had to reach the Bone-eater's Well as quickly as possible. Before Naraku broke Minamide-sensei's seals. 

Kagome had been torturing herself all day with thoughts of what might be happening, the lurid fantasies of Naraku loose in Tokyo spurring her to keep going, when what she really wanted to do was curl up--_in Inuyasha's lap_, whispered a voice in the back of her mind--and escape into the oblivion of unconsciousness. 

She swallowed the tablets, and took another long sip of water. Her earlier chills had vanished, and she felt hot, flushed. She debated taking off her jacket, which would involve painful movement. Why bother? She knew that the heat would vanish soon, and she'd start feeling cold again. Was she feverish? 

Well, if she was, it didn't matter. She had to keep going. Had to get home. 

Replacing the cap on the water bottle, she noticed that everyone was staring at her, even Kirara. 

"Kagome, you don't look so good," Kouga said, and everyone nodded. 

Inuyasha said nothing, but he held her glance, his expression grim, his golden eyes burning into hers. He had not touched her, spoken to her, or even looked at her since breakfast. And now he looked as if he were angry with her. 

_Probably because I'm slowing everyone down. Or maybe because I used the osuwari spell on him in front of Kouga-kun. Yes, that's probably why. I shouldn't have humiliated him like that, not after we-- _

"I'm sorry," Kagome murmured, looking down. "I'm ready to go." 

A light touch on her elbow, and a pair of concerned dark eyes. Sango. "Are you sure, Kagome-chan?" 

Kagome caught a flash of silver hair from the corner of her eye, and raised her chin. "I'm sure. We don't have any time to waste."

oo0oo

"Let's stop here," Sango commanded, when the sun had sunk below the western horizon, and the sky had gone blue and tangerine. 

Kirara descended, and Buffy rolled to a stop, her bike wobbling a little under the weight of her backpack. 

"But--" Kagome said faintly, as Kirara touched down. "We should keep going. Naraku--"

"No, Kagome-chan." Sango said very firmly, speaking over her shoulder to the girl sitting behind her. 

"Eh, Sango, what are you up to? If Kagome wants to keep going, we should keep going," Inuyasha called. 

Sango slid gracefully down from the firecat. "Do you want to kill her, Inuyasha? _Look_ at her. We should have stopped hours ago."

"I'm...okay, Sango-chan. Really." 

But Kagome looked anything but okay, thought Buffy, as she approached. The injured girl had been popping pills all day, when she thought no one was watching. And she looked ready to pass out, her face drawn and deathly-pale. 

Inuyasha saw it, too. He shouldered Kouga aside, and reached up to help Kagome down from Kirara. 

Kagome shook her head. "Inuyasha, please, make her--"

"Keh." He grasped one of her hands. "Sango's right. You'll slow us down even more if you push too hard and make your injuries worse. Now, are you going get down from there, or do I have to pick you up and carry you?" 

Kagome's shoulders slumped briefly, then she straightened up with a grimace. Buffy's side twinged in sympathy. She knew all-too-well what broken ribs felt like, and hers always healed within a day or two, thanks to her Slayer powers. Poor Kagome would be dealing with her injury for at least six weeks. 

Moving very slowly, Kagome swung her leg over Kirara's back, and slid with painful slowness down the patiently-standing firecat's side. Inuyasha caught her hips and guided her down, but she still gasped when her feet touched the ground. 

Buffy saw his ears twitch at the sound. He released Kagome and stepped back. "Do you want me to carry you?" 

His voice was pitched low, but Buffy saw Kouga scowl. She caught the wolf prince's eye, and shook her head. He thought about it for a second, then took the hint and turned away. _Good boy_. 

"Start a fire, houshi," Kouga said to Miroku, crossing his arms. "I'll be back soon with meat."

Then he was gone. Buffy hoped it wouldn't be rats again, but frankly, she was almost hungry enough to not care. 

"Kouga-kun is right," Sango was saying, as she walked on Kagome's other side. "We need to eat something, and rest." 

"But only for a little while," Kagome insisted. Inuyasha had her by the elbow, supporting her as they walked to the open patch of ground he'd selected as their campsite. "Please. We have to get back to the well as soon as possible. We have to!"

"I know, Kagome-chan." Sango traded looks with Inuyasha, then took Kagome's other arm. "But it won't do us any good to arrive at a battle exhausted."

"And it's not like you'll be able to draw your bow, anyway, when we get there," Inuyasha added, with brutal honesty. 

"Oh." Kagome seemed to shrink as her resistance abruptly dissolved. 

"Inuyasha," Sango said, reprimandingly, but Buffy noticed that she didn't deny his words. It was true--Kagome could barely walk. Archery would be impossible. 

Kagome allowed them to settle her at the base of an ancient pine tree, where massive, twisted roots provided a convient hollow. She was looking really out of it, Buffy observed, as Inuyasha stripped off his jacket and wrapped it around Kagome's shoulders, then stalked off to gather firewood. 

Shippou approached cautiously, putting one tiny hand on her leg. "Kagome?"

With a visible effort, she focused her eyes on the little kitsune. "Shippou-chan," she said. She opened the front of the red jacket draped around her, and spread her hands in invitation.

Looking very worried, Shippou crawled into her lap. Kagome's eyelids drooped as she stroked his rich auburn hair. "It'll be okay, Shippou-chan," she whispered. "Everything will be all right." 

While Miroku collected stones, pinecones, and twigs to get the fire going once Inuyasha brought back fuel, Sango took the clear plastic liter bottles, and headed for the nearby stream to fill them. 

Buffy wrestled Kagome's pack off the back of her bike, and dragged it over to the circle of stones that Miroku had set up as a makeshift hearth. She opened the flap and pursed her lips, considering. 

Supplies were starting to run low...only a few packets of ramen left, and a couple of cans. And a single bag of garlic-flavored potato chips. 

Her mouth watering, Buffy cast a considering glance at the direction Inuyasha had taken, reached for the chips, then hesitated. Dog-boy wasn't into sharing, and he'd made it quite clear on previous nights that those chips were _his_. 

Buffy sighed, left the chips alone, and started pulling out packets and cans. 

Tinned stew again, miso soup, ramen, tea, and dried fruit. _Plus whatever Kouga brings back_...after a moment of consideration, Buffy pulled out the little container of salt and another of a pepper-and-spice mixture, just in case they ended up roasting something again. _Please, not rat. Or snake_.

Then, she pulled out the rather battered map, and squinted in the dim light at it. _Still a long way to go_, she thought, measuring the distance between their estimated present location and the Sunset Shrine.

In the wake of Kouga's revelations, the group had packed up right after breakfast and pushed on as quickly as possible--which wasn't very fast, given that Kagome could barely sit upright on Kirara, and the firecat was consequently forced to fly more slowly than usual. 

Buffy estimated that they were traveling at about half the pace they'd set on the outbound journey, and even so, Kagome was pushing herself hard. Harder than she should, but Buffy had sensed Kagome's anxiety mounting as the day passed and her strength waned, and the Bone-eater's well remained tantalizingly far away. 

Kagome's family was in the line of danger, and Buffy understood, all-too-well, the need to rush to their aid.

She only hoped that Kagome could hang on until they got back. 

oo0oo

Dinner was a subdued affair. Kagome, still wrapped in Inuyasha's jacket, knelt next to the fire. She sipped listlessly at a mug of instant miso soup, but refused the stew and barely touched her portion of the fish that Kouga had caught. 

She glanced anxiously around at her gathered friends, as if willing them to eat faster. No one looked at her directly, but the tension in the air was as thick as the smoke from the damp firewood.

Finally, Buffy couldn't take it any more. "We need to talk," she said stating the obvious, since no one else seemed inclined to. "I know Kagome's the leader, but we only covered about twenty miles today, and at this rate, it's going to take us almost a week to get back to the well. Can we at least discuss our alternatives?" 

Kagome lowered her mug, and Buffy winced at the haunted look in her eyes. "Go ahead, Buffy-chan." 

"I was thinking that maybe we should split up," Buffy said, wiping her mouth. "And let the fastest guys--Kouga and Inuyasha--go on ahead to the well. Maybe they can hold down the fort until the rest of us arrive."

"And I could go, too," Sango said, quickly. "Kirara can keep up with Inuyasha, at least."

Kouga smirked at this, but was smart enough not to say anything. 

"In that case," continued Buffy, "do we leave the bikes and most of our gear behind? Who stays with Kagome?"

Miroku inclined his head. "Buffy-san, since you can pass through the Bone-eater's Well, you should also go ahead. I will stay with Kagome-sama and guard her, just in case we encounter bandits. Or hostile youkai."

Kagome looked as if she wanted to protest, but Inuyasha got there ahead of her. "What, leave Kagome alone with you, you pervert? You've got to be fucking _kidding_."

"Stay, then, Inu-koro. I could be at the Bone-eater's Well before dawn, if I leave now," Kouga said, loudly. "And I'll make sure that Naraku doesn't go anywhere, I swear it to you, Kagome." 

"The same way you swore to kill Kagura?" Inuyasha sneered. His gaze kept returning to Kagome, who was apparently sitting upright only through sheer force of will. "Your oaths aren't worth much, you wimpy wolf."

Kagome blinked, and Buffy saw her struggling to think through the haze of Panadol and fatigue. "Someone should go," she agreed. "And Kouga-kun _is_ the fastest." 

Inuyasha growled, low in his throat. "And what if Naraku's already gone through the Well?" he demanded. "That wimpy wolf can't follow him, and so he'll be just as useless _there_ as he is here!"

"At least I won't have to smell your pissed-on stink there," Kouga snapped. "You--"

He stopped abruptly as he saw Sango looming over him, one hand looped through Hiraikotsu's handle. It was Inuyasha's turn to smirk, but he had the good grace to avert his face when Kagome simply looked at him with the cloudy gaze of utter exhaustion. 

"Inuyasha makes a good point," said Sango. "If he goes on ahead, Kouga should take someone else with him. Inuyasha can travel through the well, but--"

"I'm not leaving Kagome." Inuyasha interrupted. "Not as badly hurt as she is."

"Me," said Buffy. "Then it has to be me. If the worst happens, I can travel through the Well using my key." 

Kouga propped his chin on his hand, and examined her critically. "You're small enough and skinny enough that you won't slow me down much," he observed. "But can you really fight Naraku?"

A week ago, Buffy would have answered _yes_ without hesitation. Now, she said, "I'd only have to hold him off long enough for Inuyasha and the others to arrive." 

"It's settled, then?" Kouga put down his bowl, got to his feet, and stretched, looking fit and confident. And rested, as if today's travels had been a mere amble for him.

"Oh, I wish I could go faster!" Kagome said, miserably. 

Shippou reached up and patted her cheek. "Don't cry, Kagome," said the kitsune.

"I wish the Sengoku-jidai had SUVs. Or even a taxi," Buffy quipped, trying to relieve the gloom. 

She got up as well, with the thought of sharpening the blade on her naginata before she left with Kouga. 

"Buffy-chan, wait!" Kagome was suddenly looking very alert. "Your Portal Key...is it tied to the Bone-eater's Well?" 

Buffy stopped. "Um, I don't think so." 

"Then, why don't we return to our time, here and now, and use a taxi? It would be faster than traveling _this_ way." Kagome gestured toward the camping gear and bikes parked nearby. 

"Unless it's rush hour," Buffy couldn't resist murmuring, remembering her endless ride from the airport to the Higurashi Shrine. 

Despite her smart-ass comment, though, she recognized the simple brilliance of Kagome's plan. Buffy kicked herself mentally for not having thought of it this morning, before they wasted an entire day putting Kagome through the wringer for twenty lousy miles. 

Kagome smiled for the first time that day. "And if you use the Key, Buffy-chan, we could _all_ go, isn't that true? Miroku-sama, Sango-chan, Shippou-chan, even Kouga-kun."

Everyone was looking at Buffy, varying degrees of hopefulness, bewilderment (Kouga) and disgust (Inuyasha) on their faces. 

"Yeah. We could all go, and be at your place in a couple of hours," Buffy said. "But--" she raised her hand to quell the flood of questions. "There are a few hiccups. For one thing, we have to find a place to open the portal that's near transportation. My book says that right here is a National Park in our time."

She heard Inuyasha snort at the reminder of how urbanized Japan would become 500 years from now.

Buffy continued, "So, we still have to get to an area that's a suburb of modern-day Tokyo. Then, I'll have to find a place to open the portal, and that'll be tricky. " 

"Why?" asked Sango and Shippou, simultaneously.

"Because if there was a building in the place where the portal opened," Buffy said. "We'd materialize in the middle of a wall or something. It would be...ugly." She bit her lip, wondering how to work out this problem. "And I'm not sure how I can pick a place that's open space now, and open space in our time."

Miroku gave a cocky smile, and raised his hand. "There are still shrines in Kagome's realm, are there not? Ancient shrines?"

_Of course!_ Buffy grinned at him. "You're right! And they all have courtyards! All we have to do is find a shrine around here that's still in operation in our time, and we're golden."

"And how will you find such a thing?" Sango slapped Miroku's hand away from her hip, and leaned on Hiraikotsu with a thoughtful expression. "Houshi-sama will know of shrines in this area, yes, but are you familiar with the shrines in your time, Kagome-chan?"

Kagome shook her head, looking depressed again.

Buffy dug hastily in her backpack, and held up a thick, rather battered looking paperback. "This book can tell us." 

At Miroku's questioning look, she said, "_Lonely Planet Japan_. It's, uh, a traveler's guide. And it has information about most of the shrines and temples in the Tokyo area."

"Most useful," murmured Miroku. "Even if it _is_ written in foreign script."

oo0oo

It took less than an hour to figure out that they were in the area that would be known as the Chichibu-Tama National Park in the twenty-first century. 

By this time, it was completely dark, so Miroku and Buffy crouched near the dying Coleman lantern, Kagome's maps spread out on the ground before them. 

Miroku was indeed very knowledgable about the shrines in the area--he mentioned that he had been a wandering monk for nearly four years--but he did have a disturbing tendancy to let his hand brush against Buffy's breast as he reached to point out a possibility. 

The second time it happened, she fixed him with a glare. "Houshi-sama," she said, mimicking Sango's prim tone. "Don't make me break your fingers." 

"You wouldn't." But he pulled his hand away, very quickly. 

Buffy smiled at him, very sweetly. "Do you really want to find out?"

"Just keep your fucking hands to yourself, bouzou." Inuyasha said, from beyond the fading circle of lamplight. He was sitting next to Kagome, letting the injured girl lean against him. Her eyes were closed again, as if the effort of suggesting the Portal Key had taken the last of her strength.

Miroku sighed, loudly, and changed the subject. "How about Chichibu-jinja?"

Buffy flipped through her Lonely Planet guide. "Bingo! And there's a train station nearby, too! There isn't a direct line to Kagome's home, but the train will take us into downtown Tokyo, uh, in about hour and a half, and we can change trains there."

Kagome opened her eyes with an effort. "That sounds good, Buffy-chan. Let's leave now."

Inuyasha's hand clamped down on her arm. "Hell, no. You can barely sit up."

"And we're still about fifteen miles away from Chichibu-jinja," Buffy added.

"And we will have to obtain permission from the priest or miko of the shrine to open a portal on the grounds," Miroku said. 

Kouga jumped to his feet again. "Fifteen miles is nothing! I'll go now, and let them know we're coming."

"What, you think they'll take one look at you, and say, _yes of course, please pollute our shrine with youkai sorcery_?" Inuyasha asked sarcastically. 

He had a point, Buffy thought, but it was more likely that he resented Kouga playing the hero. 

"I'll go," Inuyasha continued. "I'm nearly as fast as you are, and at least a local shrine will have had heard of the quest for the Shikon no Tama, and know that we're friends of Kaede's."

Miroku cleared his throat. "But, Inuyasha, what if Naraku's apparent retreat to the Bone-eater's Well is a ploy? What if he doubles back to attack us once our two strongest members are gone?"

"Keh. You have a point." Inuyasha said, sulkily. "Let that wimpy wolf go, then. And good luck to him."

"Rather than Buffy-sama, perhaps it would be best if I accompanied him," interjected Miroku, very ostentatiously keeping his hands to himself. "Inuyasha did have a point. A youkai, or even a hanyou, requesting use of a sacred precinct might not be...favorably received. Whereas, _I_..." He coughed modestly. 

Kagome opened her eyes again. "Kouga-kun, would you mind taking Miroku-sama with you?" Her voice was faint, and a little hoarse.

Kouga shrugged. "Sure. It'll be slower going--he's bigger than the gaijin taijya. But we'll still be back before dawn." He fixed Inuyasha with a glare. "Just remember who's really helping you out, Kagome, and don't let Inu-koro take any liberties in your weakened state."

"Don't worry," Buffy said hastily, as she saw Inuyasha's clawed fingers clench into the dirt. "Sango, Shippou, and I will be chaperoning them, after all." 

A few minutes later, Kouga took off in a Shikon-powered sprint, Miroku clinging to his back. The monk had insisted on bringing along his bronze-headed staff, and Buffy heard the chime of the musical rings quickly fading to a faint jingle in the distance.

"Now, we wait," said Sango, putting aside Hiraikotsu and pouring herself a cup of tea. "Kagome-chan, try to sleep, at least until Kouga and Miroku return."

oo0oo

Kagome knew that she should change into her pajamas, or at least brush her teeth and take another dose of Panadol before going to sleep, but she found herself unable to move. She tried opening her eyes, but it took too much effort. 

Even the ever-present pain in her back and side seemed to withdraw a little. Reality shrank until her only anchors were the soft, slightly prickly feel of Inuyasha's fire-rat fur sleeve against one cheek, and the creeping chill of the autumn night against her other cheek. 

"Kagome?" He sounded concerned, she thought, distantly. But it was so hard to form words. "Kagome!" Louder now, more demanding. 

"Ngnhh," she managed. _Was he going to make her move now?_ She didn't want to stand up and go, but home was still so far away. _Fifteen miles_, she thought. Then she could sleep on the train. 

"Here." She felt his fingers touch her lips, and push something between them. Tablets, tasteless at first, then quickly bitter. The hard rim of a plastic bottle rested against her mouth, and she drank, washing away the bitterness.

"Is she okay?" Buffy-chan's voice, very near. 

Kagome felt something brush her hair, then Inuyasha's low tones. "Yeah. Just tired...I can smell it. She's nearly asleep."

"I'll get her sleeping bag. You guys can, uh, wrap it around yourselves."

The warm pleasant cloud of sleepiness evaporated as Inuyasha's arms closed around her and lifted, jarring her broken ribs. Kagome couldn't stop herself from crying out as the sudden agony took her by surprise.

Inuyasha froze. "I'm sorry, Kagome," he whispered, and that concerned her. Inuyasha _never_ apologized. _Ever_. 

Worrying about that carried her through the next few agonizing moments, as Inuyasha walked a few steps with her in his arms, then sank down and settled her into his lap, much as he had the previous night. 

Roused by the pain, she managed to open her eyes as Buffy unzipped the sleeping bag and draped it over her like a quilt, tucking in the edges so it wouldn't slide down. 

"Sleep well, Kagome." Buffy touched her cheek, and then she was gone. 

"Kagome," asked Inuyasha. "Are you comfortable? Do you need anything?"

_Just you_. Kagome managed to smile. It had been a horrible day, and tomorrow looked to be just as bad--_fifteen miles!_--but for now, she was as close to happy as she could be when she was so worried about her family. 

And Inuyasha has been so ill-tempered today, scarcely talking at her except to snap commands and criticisms of her slowness. Did he regret kissing her last night? Would he pretend nothing had happened? 

He was simply holding her now, staring straight ahead with an impassive look on his face. Nestled against his shoulder, Kagome sensed Sango, Shippou, and Buffy settling down for the night--the smell of Buffy's mint toothpaste mingling with smoke from the fire, Kirara's sleepy purr, Shippou wheedling Sango for just one potato chip. 

"Don't even think about it," Inuyasha said, not bothering to raise his voice. "Those are mine, you little brat."

Shippou pouted, but within a short time, he was curled up against Kirara's warm flank. Buffy and Sango talked a little while, their voices pitched too low for Kagome to catch their words, then they, too, settled down to sleep, and silence reigned in the camp. 

Inuyasha shifted a little, and she felt him stroke her cheek, her hair. "Hey, Kagome." 

She opened her eyes, wondering whether he was going to kiss her again. Her heart began pounding with a mixture of hope and nervousness. 

"Inuyasha," she murmured. It was an effort to look up at him--her head felt strangely heavy--but she managed it.

His eyes were closed and he wore a peaceful, intent expression as he bent his face to hers. 

Their kiss this time was longer and deeper, each of them becoming a little bolder as the seconds passed. 

He had the softest mouth, and despite the pain and the effect of the tablets, she wanted more. He obliged with light, nibbling kisses around the perimeter of her lips; slow, hard kisses, his mouth devouring hers; and tender kisses that made her feel cherished, precious. 

She felt a pleasant shock between her thighs when his sharp teeth very gently fastened on her lower lip, and he stroked its length with his tongue.

_Yuka-chan was wrong about tongue-kissing,_ thought Kagome dizzily, opening her mouth to welcome him in. _It isn't gross at all_. Just the opposite. She felt as if he were claiming her, making her his. 

Her movements as languid and slow as if she were pushing through water, she put one hand against his chest, the beads of his enchanted rosary cool and hard beneath her fingers, and felt his heart racing, pounding nearly as hard as hers. 

Finally, after what seemed both a long time and a terribly short one, Inuyasha pulled away, breathing a little harder now. Kagome tightened her fingers in his shirt, protesting the loss of his mouth, and he covered her hand with his own.

"I think you should try and sleep now," he said, in a strained tone. 

Kagome didn't trust her own voice, so she just sighed, and let her head drop against the comfortable solidity of his shoulder. 

Then, as if he couldn't help himself, she felt Inuyasha brush gentle kisses over her forehead, her eyes, her nose. He kept her hand in his, and she felt him rest his cheek against the top of her head in a familiar gesture. 

"Mmm, such a nice smell," he whispered. 

"You, too," she said, without opening her eyes. She turned her face to his throat and took a deep, ostentatious sniff. 

She was rewarded by his almost soundless chuckle, vibrating against her hair. "What can you smell, anyway," he whispered. "With your puny human senses?"

Kagome smiled. His scent was familiar by now--woodsmoke and the wool smell from the fire-rat fur of his haori. A faint tang of sweat, and something else that she couldn't describe, but that was uniquely him. 

"Enough," she said, "to know what I like." 

He snorted, softly. "Baka," he said, affectionately.

She let sleep claim her at last, wondering a little at how strange life was. 

How could she be in so much pain--even breathing hurt--and worried sick about Kaede, the villagers, and her family, and yet at the same time, be so happy, nestled in Inuyasha's embrace, his kisses still warm on her mouth and face?


	23. Poison Pill

21 21. Poison Pill

_Somewhere northeast of Edo, late 16th century Japan_

It was still dark when the chime of Miroku's staff woke Buffy. 

_I've been having way too many early mornings on this trip_, she thought, grumpily, as she sat up, blinking. 

"Good morning, Buffy-sama!" Miroku was seated cross-legged next to the rekindled campfire, looking very pleased with himself. Kouga was sprawled full-length on the ground next to the monk, looking tired and sweaty. 

_And no wonder: a thirty-mile round-trip, with a full-grown man on his back!_

"_Morning_ is perhaps an exaggeration, houshi-sama." Sango was already up, and was returning from the stream, a full jug of water in her hand. Kneeling gracefully next to the fire, she refilled the kettle and set it to heat. 

_Rise and shine_, thought Buffy, sourly, as she gave a tremendous yawn. She crawled out of her sleeping bag, and grabbing her clothing, she headed for the stream to wash her face and get changed out of her PJs. 

"I'll wake the dog-turd," said Kouga, rolling to his feet. "He was supposed to be guarding this camp, not sleeping under a tree!"

He stalked over to the dark mound that was Inuyasha and the sleeping bag, sitting between the roots of the gnarled pine tree. "Hey, Inu-koro!" 

Buffy heard Inuyasha's soft growl from the shadows, but--_good boy!-_-he didn't move. Kagome was still asleep, then. She moved closer, watching Kouga closely.

"You lazy mutt!" Kouga drew back his foot, presumably to kick Inuyasha in the side. But before he could complete the motion, Buffy shot out her hand and caught one of Kouga's pointed Spock-ears between her fingers. She pulled on it, hard.

"I don't care what kind of manly contest you have going on with dog-boy," she said, with all the menace she could summon. "But if you hurt Kagome, I'm gonna cut off your tail."

He rolled his eyes at her. "I would _never_ hurt--"

"Shit, Kouga. It's hurting her just to _breathe_ right now." Buffy twisted his ear for emphasis, and heard air hiss between his teeth. He could have dismembered her in an instant, but taken by surprise--and the mention of Kagome--he simply stood there. "You do _anything_ to Inuyasha while he's holding her, and I guarantee she's going to be in pain. And so are _you_. Understand?"

Kouga nodded, and she released him. 

From his place on the ground, Inuyasha snickered nastily. Buffy leaned down, and grabbed his ear, too, for good measure. "Not. One. Word. Outta you, dog-boy. You heard what I said to him?"

Inuyasha gave slightest of nods, wincing as he did so. 

"Good. Same goes for you. Now wake her up..._gently_."

She let go of his ear--which felt exactly like a dog's, warm and velvet-soft--and saw the flash of his pointed teeth in the firelight. "You don't have to tell me that, bitch."

oo0oo

Once everyone was up and gathered around the fire, Miroku shared his news. "We found the shrine, and spoke to the priest. Hayao-sama knew my master Mushin, and so agreed to allow us to open a portal on the grounds, once I swore that we were not doing this out of impure motives."

"Good," said Buffy, and Kagome, who was kneeling next to her, echoed her. She looked relieved.

"Kagome, if you only knew what I had to put up with!" Kouga said, coming over and dropping to the ground, cross-legged. 

The goofy lovesick look was back, noted Buffy. 

Miroku nodded. "I have nothing but praise for Kouga-sama's graceful silence in the face of Hayao-sama's mistaken assumption." 

"Oh, yeah?" Inuyasha said. "What, did he think _you_ were a shining example of monkhood?"

"Er, no." Miroku had the grace to look somewhat embarrassed. "He did, however, praise my powerful spiritual abilities for having, um, bound a wolf-youkai to my service--"

Kouga made a sound deep in his throat, and Miroku added, hastily, "But I of course immediately corrected Hayao-sama and told him that Kouga-sama was an ally, not a servant--"

"And it's lucky you did, houshi," Kouga said. "The next time some lowly human makes _that_ mistake, I'll have them for dinner." 

"You--you wouldn't _really_ do that, would you Kouga-kun? Eat people?" Kagome asked, softly. 

Buffy saw her big brown eyes grow even bigger, and her hand reach out to clasp his. _Oh yeah, she definitely knows how to play him_. 

"Well, er, of course not," he sputtered. "But I'm the leader of the Yourouzoku--what if someone finds out that I let a mere human get away with calling me a--a _pet_!"

Kagome smiled sweetly. "They'd think you were humoring an old man, Kouga-kun, and respect you for your good manners."

"Kagome, I..." The wolf prince looked down at their joined hands, clearly embarrassed.

Inuyasha was narrow-eyed and clearly displeased that Kouga was moving in on his girl, yet again. But he surprised Buffy by not confronting Kouga directly about it. 

Instead, he dug in Kagome's pack. "Here," he said, brusquely, tossing something small and pale in Buffy's direction. "Isn't it time for Kagome's medicine?"

She caught it automatically, and recognized it as the Panadol bottle. It was alarmingly empty. She squinted at the hole punched in the side. _Crap_._ I don't suppose the rest of the tablets fell out because Inuyasha couldn't deal with the child-proof cap?_

But she knew that she couldn't blame the dog-boy for this one. She had seen Kagome popping these more often than she should have yesterday--not surprising, considering how much pain she was in. 

Worried now, she rattled the bottle, trying to estimate how many tablets were left. How many had Kagome taken over the last twenty-four hours? This container had been nearly full two nights ago.

Kagome distentangled herself from Kouga's grip, and reached out her hand. "If you please, Buffy."

Buffy's hand closed around the plastic container. "How many of these did you take last night?"

Kagome blinked. "I don't know...maybe two before I went to sleep?"

Okay, so she hadn't had any in at least seven hours. That was good. That also meant she was probably in quite bit of pain now. Buffy sighed. "How about yesterday? Do you remember how many of these you took yesterday?"

Kagome shook her head. "Just--whenever it starting hurting too much," she confessed in a low voice. "Please, Buffy. It hurts now."

"I know it does," Buffy said, as gently as she could. "More than eight tablets, Kagome?"

"I--I think so. Maybe."

Which meant _yes, definitely_. "Then I can't let you take any more of these today."

Suddenly, Inuyasha was standing right there, his hand wrapped painfully around Buffy's wrist, his claws digging into the sensitive skin of her forearm. "What do you mean, bitch?" He glared down at her, his voice low, menacing. "Kagome is in_ pain_. Give her the fucking medicine!"

"I meant what I said. No more pills," Buffy said, looking him straight in the eye. She knew better than to try and pull away. "They're poisonous in large quantities...I don't know exactly how many Kagome's taken since we left Naraku's castle, but I'm sure it was more than is safe. Doesn't she seem really out of it to you?"

Inuyasha released her, and Buffy rubbed her stinging arm resentfully. She looked down and saw five small, bleeding half-moons on the inside of her wrist. 

His gaze went to Kagome. "I--I thought it was just because she had broken bones."

"Kagome, does your stomach hurt? Have you thrown up at all?" asked Buffy, urgently. 

Kagome shook her head.

"Have you noticed any other symptoms of poisoning--tingling, headache, bad taste in your mouth, anything unusual at all?" Buffy was struggling to remember all the symptoms she could, unsure of what happened when you overdosed on this type of painkiller.

"Nothing," said Kagome. "I'm fine, Buffy-chan. Really."

Kouga took the opportunity to sniff deeply at her nape. Kagome gasped in surprise as he buried his face in her hair, then whimpered as the sudden inhalation jarred her broken ribs.

"She doesn't _smell_ poisoned to me," Kouga said, doubtfully. "In fact, the only bad thing I smell is _your_ stink, Inu-koro. What the hell have you been doing--drooling on her?" 

Nose wrinkling, he leaned in Kagome's direction again, only to come up short when Inuyasha grabbed his ponytail. 

"Enough, you wimpy wolf. Or is your nose really that weak?" Inuyasha pulled hard on the hank of hair, forcing Kouga to expose his thoat. Buffy saw the fingers of Inuyasha's other hand flexing, the long talons gilded by the firelight.

"That's enough, boys." Buffy warned. She glanced over at Sango, who quickly and meaningfully hefted Hiraikotsu. 

"Inuyasha, please," Kagome said, softly. 

Inuyasha's mouth twisted, but he opened his fist and released the wolf-prince's ponytail, sending Kouga sprawling in the dirt. 

Buffy let out a breath of relief. _Another youkai death-match, averted_. "I'm glad to hear Kagome smells okay, but I still think she shouldn't take any more of those pills until tomorrow, at least. In fact, I want to take her to an emergency room as soon as we get back to Tokyo." At the questioning looks she received, she clarified: "To see a physician, and make sure she isn't bleeding internally."

Inuyasha nodded. "That's a good--"

"No!" Kagome interrupted, her eyes suddenly blazing. "Not until I know my family is safe, and that Naraku won't--won't come through the well."

"But Kagome--" Buffy and Inuyasha began to protest simultaneously.

"I said, _no_." Kagome glared at each member of the party in turn. No one--not even Inuyasha--contradicted her this time. 

"Okay, it's your family, and so I guess it's your call, but for the record, you're not in any kind of shape to fight Naraku today." Buffy said, tucking the remaining pills into the front pocket of her jeans. 

Kagome's lips thinned as she saw the Panadol disappear into Buffy's possession, but she didn't protest.

"Buffy-chan is right," Sango said. "You're badly hurt, Kagome-chan."

"You are truly courageous, but please don't put yourself in the way of harm," Kouga said. He had regained his seat and was once more a lot closer to Kagome that Inuyasha liked, judging from the frown on the dog-boy's face. "I can fight for you--in fact, it's my _duty_ to fight for my woman." 

"For the last time, she's not your fucking woman! Are all the wolves as dense as you?" Inuyasha demanded.

Kagome didn't move away from Kouga, but her words were for Inuyasha. "I promise I'll go to the doctor as soon as this is over. Mama will probably want to take me to the hospital, anyway."

Inuyasha glanced up at the sky. It was still dark and starry, though the first hint of gray was showing to the east. "Well, then, why are we wasting time? Let's eat and get to that shrine!"

"We should leave everything behind that we don't need today," Buffy said, crisply. "Inuyasha, why don't you cache Kagome's bike and mine, along with the sleeping bags, up in a tree somewhere. That way, you can come back for the stuff later, and no one will steal it in the meantime."

"And just when did _you_ start giving orders again?" inquired Inuyasha. 

Buffy blinked. Well, that _had_ sounded a little bossier than she intended. "Um...I was just making a suggestion. Sorry." 

Her apology seemed to take Inuyasha by surprise. He thought about it for a few moments. "Eh, it's a pretty good idea. But don't let it get to your head."

oo0oo

After some further discussion, they decided that Inuyasha would carry Miroku on his back this time. Kouga volunteered to carry Buffy, saying she had to weigh less than the monk did. Buffy noticed him blushing a little as he offered--it was kinda sweet, but she wondered what he was _really_ thinking. Kirara would carry Kagome, Sango, and Shippou, plus Buffy's backpack and the food. 

There was only enough ramen left for one more meal, anyway. 

They ate a hasty breakfast, then packed up and prepared for the day's travels. Inuyasha stashed the bikes and everything except Buffy's backpack and the food in the top of the gnarled pine tree. 

Buffy kept a close eye on Kagome as they worked. She looked better than she had yesterday--the worst of the dark circles had disappeared from around her eyes--but she was still in a lot of pain and moving as little as possible. She apologized profusely for not helping with cooking, dishwashing, or packing, but it didn't take much convincing for her to simply stay put while the rest of them took care of business.

It looked like a day without Panadol might be possible...until Kagome tried, and failed, to climb on Kirara's back. Inuyasha was instantly at her side, his hands on her hips, ready to hoist her up, but Kagome made a sound of protest, and he jumped back as if he'd been burned.

He cast a helpless glance in Buffy's direction. Sango, who was already seated on Kirara's back, straightened up, and shook her head. _No go_. 

"It's going to be a hell of a day for her," Buffy muttered. "God, what I wouldn't give for some Vicodin about now!" 

"Buffy-sama?" Miroku's quiet voice startled her. He took Buffy's elbow and steered her to one side. She kept an eye on his evil hand, but for once, his focus wasn't on groping her. "I was wondering--do you really think Kagome-sama is able to travel?"

"I know she _wants_ to," Buffy said, looking at the frustration on Kagome's face. "But yesterday was more than she could handle, and that was _with_ the tablets. Today..." She sighed. "I just don't know, houshi-sama. If it was my family, I'd do anything to get to them in time, but...I'm worried about her."

"We all are." The monk bowed his head. "Kagome-sama has the strongest spirit and the kindest heart of us all. It distresses me to see her like this."

"But what can we do? We have to keep going. We don't have a choice." 

"There is...something." Miroku sounded reluctant. "A spell I could try."

"Is it dangerous?" Inuyasha demanded, having appeared next to them in that uncanny way of his. 

"Not particularly. It would just put Kagome-sama to sleep for a while."

"So, what's the problem?"

Miroku sighed. "It might not work on someone with Kagome's powers. She is the reincarnation of a powerful miko, after all." 

Well, it sounded better than any of their other options right now, thought Buffy. She saw agreement in Inuyasha's golden eyes, and said: "Let's ask her. A mystical sleep is probably better than risking more Panadol."

oo0oo 

"Are you _sure_ you'll wake me up when it's time to go through the portal?" Kagome asked, for the fourth time, as Miroku swirled his brush over the wet surface of his ink cake.

"Will you _stop_ asking that, dammit?" Inuysha snapped at her. "I promised I would, didn't I? You think I'm lying, or something?" 

They were in position for Miroku to work his spell--Kagome kneeling in front of the monk, Buffy and Inuyasha spotting her on either side, ready to catch her when the magic took effect. Despite the dog-boy's peevish tone, Buffy saw that his hand was cupping Kagome's elbow, the gesture hidden from the others by the generous sweep of his wide sleeve.

Buffy gave Inuyasha a dirty look, and said, soothingly, to Kagome: "There's still plenty of rubbing alcohol left in your first-aid kit--as soon as we get there, I'll use it to remove the symbols from your forehead, and...poof! You're awake!" 

"Promise me," insisted Kagome. 

"I promise," said Buffy. 

Inuyasha sighed loudly. "Are you happy now?" 

And Buffy felt like kicking him.

"Are you ready, Kagome-sama?" Miroku raised the brush. "Close your eyes."

Kagome obeyed, tilting her face up so that he could begin painting the spell on her forehead. 

Miroku closed his eyes as well, taking three deep breaths before he began. Then he touched his brush to Kagome's forehead, drawing the symbols of the incantation with swift, sure strokes as he murmured in a soft, hypnotic tone. The prickle of pure power emanating from him raised gooseflesh on Buffy's arms and along her spine. _Miroku's the real thing, all right_. 

Kagome swayed a little as Miroku lifted his brush and refreshed it on the ink cake. The sensation of raw power returned, stronger this time, almost electric. 

Miroku began writing again. 

There was a sudden, soundless rush of energy. Before Buffy could react, a comet of rose-colored light sent the monk flying backwards. 

In a flash, Buffy was on her feet. Three steps, and she was crouching at Miroku's side. "You okay?"

He opened his large, dark eyes and gave her a piteous look. "I should have known. Kagome-sama is indeed powerful." 

Kagome began to crumple, and Inuyasha caught her. 

"Miroku-sama!" she called, weakly. "I'm _so_ sorry! I didn't mean to!"

Buffy felt something skim over her thigh, and come to rest on her left buttock. She slapped Miroku's hand away, calling: "Don't worry about him, Kagome. All you did was knock him on his ass." She frowned down at his prone figure. "Pervert."

He smiled at Buffy with a conspicuous lack of shame. Then, a bit ruefully, he rubbed the back of his head. "Ouch. Those rocks are certainly quite hard." 

"I'm so sorry!" Kagome repeated. "Really, I am! I won't do that again."

He rose to his feet. "No apologies needed. Only, this time, please, try not to fight me. When my power touches yours, submit to it. Trust in me!"

Inuyasha gave an inelegant snort at that last statement. 

Miroku found his brush, rinsed off the dirt and pine needles stuck to it, then loaded it with ink once again. 

This time, he got all the way through the spell. As he finished the final squiggle, just over Kagome's left eyebrow, she began to fall forward in slow motion. 

Buffy started to catch her, but an instant later, Inuyasha had scooped the unconscious girl up in his arms. 

"Careful," said Buffy to him. "She can't feel anything right now, but if her broken ribs splinter, they could poke a hole in her lung. Or her spleen." _Where the heck was the spleen, anyway?_

"Or something," she finished lamely. 

Inuyasha was already walking away from her with rapid strides. 

"Now we can _finally_ leave," he grumped to Sango, placing Kagome on Kirara's back as carefully as if she were a blown-glass figurine. 

oo0oo 

Having Kouga carry her to Chichibu-jinja had _seemed_ like a good idea at the time, Buffy thought, grumpily, a couple of hours later as the tall, red-painted gate of the shrine came into view. 

In reality, she might've been better off jogging alongside the wolf-prince. Her chest and stomach were bruised from banging against his armor, her neck and back were stiff from holding herself upright and trying not to throw off his balance, and he smelled---rather strongly at this point--of, well, sweaty wolf. 

As did she. 

_Phew_. _Wonder how long it'll be before they invent deodorant? _ she asked herself when he finally let her down in the middle of a large courtyard surrounded by tile-roofed buildings. It would be very, very nice to return to her own time, and take a long, hot bath. With lots of bubbles.

She took a step on rubbery legs. "Um, thank you, Kouga-kun."

"Anything for a friend of Kagome," he said, stretching. She could hear his joints popping as he did so. "Don't mention it!"

She wouldn't, she decided. Riding wolf-back--even a wolf as cute as Kouga--had nothing on riding a nice, smooth, non-smelly train.

oo0oo

The rest of the group was close behind them. Inuyasha had just lifted Kagome's limp body from Kirara's back when an old man wearing a white shirt and wide-legged dark trousers emerged from one of the buildings. 

"Hayao-sama!" Miroku called, bowing deeply. 

Hayao returned the bow, looking very dignified. Then he caught sight of Kagome and rushed over to her, practically shouldering aside Inuyasha to cluck over her unconscious form. 

"Miroku-sama, you and your friends will be rewarded by Heaven for all that you're doing to return this poor, injured girl to her family. I cannot recall a time when youkai--" he gave Inuyasha's ears an appraising glance as he said this. "Stooped to help a human. She must be very special!"

Miroku nodded. "Indeed. She is the only one who can purify the polluted shards of the Shikon no Tama." 

"Oh, indeed!" Hayao pursed his lips, looking very impressed. "Well, let me fetch some water for her."

He bustled off. 

Inuyasha threw Miroku a dirty look. "You told that old man that using his shrine to open a portal was about bringing Kagome to the _hospital_?"

Miroku shrugged, looking innocent. "A half-truth isn't the same thing as lying," he protested. 

"Keh." 


	24. A Day Late and a Yen Short

22 22. A Day Late and a Yen Short

_Chichibu-jinja, late 16th century Japan_

It seemed that no time passed at all. 

One minute, Kagome was kneeling in the pre-dawn darkness, feeling the cool tickle of Miroku's brush moving across the skin of her face, and trying not to fight the stinging flood of his power. 

In the next instant, her nose was filled with the sharp scent of rubbing alcohol, and she felt something icy-wet dabbing against her forehead. 

Kagome opened her eyes, and saw Buffy leaning over her. The American girl grinned in her friendly, confident way. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"Okay, I think." She was laying down, curled on her uninjured side, gravel poking her hip. Her cheek was pillowed on something scratchy and warm...and bright red. 

_Inuyasha_. She smiled a little, tempted to close her eyes and go back to sleep, but now that she'd awakened, so had the pain.

Slowly, painfully, Kagome pushed herself up. It was full daylight now, and bright sunlight filled the courtyard of a shrine. _We made it!_

But were they still in the past, or had Buffy already brought them through the portal? 

She strained, listening, and heard only the sound of the wind moving through the trees. No airplanes. No cars. No trains. 

A clawed, long-fingered hand settled on her shoulder. 

"See?" Inuyasha sounded as grumpy as ever, but Kagome wasn't fooled. He had been holding her head in his lap while Buffy erased the spell. "I _told_ you we'd wake you up as soon as we got here."

"I'm sorry for doubting you," Kagome said, reaching up and briefly sliding her hand over his. 

He grunted, but didn't pull away from her touch the way he usually did.

oo0oo

The old Shinto priest, Hayao-sama, appeared shortly thereafter. He and one of the shrine's mikos, a girl about the same age as Kagome, came out, bearing pots of hot tea and plates of buns for the entire party. 

The miko served them in silence. She was obviously trying hard to keep her eyes properly downcast, but Kagome saw her sneaking looks at their strange garb--and Inuyasha's ears. Which twitched uncomfortably every time the girl's gaze fell on them.

Their arrival was probably the most interesting thing to happen in years at this little out-of-the-way shrine, Kagome thought.

That thought spurred another...where were her manners? She put down her cup and struggled to her feet, helped up by Inuyasha's unobtrusive hand under her left elbow.

With an effort, she bowed properly to the priest, trying to ignore the sickening feeling of bone ends rubbing against one another in her side. "Ojii-sama," she said, a little breathless from the rush of pain. "Thank you so much for letting us use the shrine to--to go home." 

He smiled benevolently at her. "You are welcome, Kagome-sama. Miroku-sama has told me much about you. He says you have powerful spiritual gifts."

She felt her cheeks heat. "Oh, not at all," she denied, politely. "Miroku-sama was only being polite, I'm sure." There was one more thing she was obliged to do. "Ojii-sama, you have already been so kind to us. May I ask one further favor, and pay my respects to your kami before we go?" 

Kagome heard Inuyasha's loud, impatient sigh but ignored him. She had grown up in a shrine. She knew what was expected of her. And, frankly, they needed all the help they could get, and making proper obeisance to this shine's guardian couldn't hurt.

oo0oo

Despite Inuyasha's grumbling about foolish delays, it didn't take long for Kagome, Miroku, Sango, and--surprisingly--Buffy to pay their respects. 

Shippou, Inuyasha, and Kouga remained in the courtyard, sitting companionably together for once, drinking tea and gobbling down the last of the sweet bean-paste buns.

After washing their hands and rinsing out their mouths at the shrine's purification basin, the four humans proceeded to the worship hall, where Miroku made an offering of incense. The three girls rang the temple gong, said their prayers, clapped their hands, and bowed. Kagome noticed that Buffy was watching her closely as they performed the familiar ritual, the Slayer's movements echoing hers by a half-beat. 

She didn't know what prayers Sango and Buffy said, but Kagome only had one wish, _Please protect my family, kami-sama. Please let us be strong enough to defeat Naraku this time_. 

oo0oo

When they finished, they returned to the courtyard and gathered up their belongings. It was time to go. Sango bade farewell to Kirara, and sent the firecat off after promising to return soon from Kagome's realm.

"Now," Buffy said, thoughtfully, as she opened the small, jeweled sphere of the Portal Key. She studied the meager possessions left to them. "What am I going to use to focus the portal?" 

Everyone waited. Then, Buffy grinned. "Shippou-chan, are there any potato chips left?"

"HEY!" came Inuyasha's outraged howl. "Those are_ mine!_"

"Oh, grow up!" snapped Buffy as the little kitsune pulled the crinkling bag from her backpack. 

Kagome saw him snarl, and added hastily: "I promise I'll buy you some more when we get back to Tokyo, Inuyasha."

The hanyou subsided into sulky silence, his hands tucked in his sleeves. He watched intently as Buffy took a single chip out of the bag, relaxing a little when she resealed it and handed it to Shippou to pack away. 

Buffy put the chip into the sphere, unfolded a sheet of paper, and began chanting. 

A shimmering curtain of blue light came into existence, hovering just above the raked gravel. It was approximately the same height and width as a doorway. 

"Okay," called Buffy. "Everyone...this is your cue."

Miroku went through first, followed by Sango, who let Shippou ride on her shoulder. Then, it was Kouga's turn--he strode up to the portal with what seemed his usual confidence, but Kagome noticed that he was clenching his fists. Then it was her turn.

Inuyasha took her hand just before she stepped through, and together they floated briefly through the shimmering dark. It felt just like going through the Bone-eater's Well. 

The Chichibu shrine looked virtually unchanged when she stepped through on the other side of the portal. It was still a sunny morning, and the ground beneath her feet still crunched with carefully-raked gravel. But the air smelled different, and Kagome heard the sounds of traffic and modern music drifting in from the area outside the shrine precincts. 

Inuyasha dropped her hand as soon as they emerged from the portal. "She did it...we're back in your realm, Kagome," he muttered. 

She was home...or nearly so. 

oo0oo

"...are they filming a movie or something?" Kagome heard someone ask as their group passed under the shrine's torii. 

She saw a white minivan parked just outside the precinct, surrounded by a gaggle of senior citizens. A sign taped to the minivan's windshield proclaimed _Plum Blossom Tours_. 

The tour-guide-san, a young, snappily-dressed woman with a bright blue kerchief, blinked and stared openly at them. 

Kagome sneaked a worried glance at her companions, trying to see them through the tour-guide-san's eyes: a young woman in an old-fashioned robe, carrying a little boy on her shoulders, a boomerang the size of a surfboard strapped across her back. A young man with a ponytail and multiple piercings, wearing the traditional long robes of a Buddhist monk. 

Kouga had--reluctantly--loosened his hair from its ponytail, and the thick, dark mass hung to his shoulders, concealing his pointed youkai ears. But he was still a startling sight in his short fur kilt and leggings, his sword, and his hauberk. Inuyasha was wearing a baseball cap Buffy had lent him, which was his usual disguise when venturing out into the modern world, but his scarlet robes and long, silver hair drew attention, as they always did.

"Filming? Ah, yes, I-I believe so," stammered the young tour-guide-san after a long moment of gawking at them. 

Kouga and Inuyasha simply strode by, looking neither right nor left. Sango and Miroku both bowed politely to the old people, Shippou clinging to Sango's neck and hiding his bushy foxtail in the space between her back and Hiraikotsu.

Buffy waved at the tour group as she passed, startling them with a cheery, "Ohayou gozaimasu!" With her blonde hair and jeans, she was just as much a misfit as the youkai and the hanyou. 

Trailing in the American girl's wake, Kagome bowed automatically, and bade them good morning as well, struggling to keep up with the others without being rude to her elders.

"I--I--that is to say, I heard they were filming an advertisement today. Yes, yes, there are always, um, film crews around here...as you know, this region is rich in both scenic and historic monuments." The tour-guide-san's voice regained its practiced rhythm as Kagome and her friends left the tour group behind and walked toward the buildings of the nearby town. "The Chichibu Shrine, which you see before you, has been here for many years; however most of the present buildings are modern reconstructions..." 

The walk to the Chichibu train station seemed endless. Each step on the hard pavement jarred Kagome's broken ribs, and she felt as if she were falling further and further behind. It was a little better when they reached the town's main street, and the travelers from the Sengoku-jidai slowed down to stare at the cars zooming by on the street, and to examine the items displayed in the windows of the close-packed shops. 

They'd only gone a block or two when Sango gasped, and came to a dead halt in front of a newsstand. A moment later, Kagome saw what had captured the youkai-taijya's horrified attention: an advertising poster featuring a naked girl draped with a strategically-positioned boa-constrictor. The model was proffering an ice-filled glass of bright blue liquid, and the text promised, "Snowflake liqueur brings ecstasy to your mouth!" 

Kouga, Inuyasha, and Miroku clustered around her. They, too, stared at the billboard, but their expressions were anything _but_ horrified. 

"She's--she's um--very--um--_pretty_," Miroku finally managed to say. 

"What good is it if you can't _smell_ her?" Kouga said, puzzled. Losing interest, he turned away and started investigating the display of packaged snacks.

This seemed to break Sango's temporary paralysis. "Humph!" she said, turning her back on the offensive image. She strode away rapidly, ignoring Shippou's protests. "But there was _candy_, Sango! Lollipops! _Strawberry_ lollipops!"

Meanwhile, Inuyasha had picked up a graphic novel, and was flipping the pages, his eyes wide as saucers. Kagome saw the dark blush rising up his neck, then realized he'd picked up a hentai manga titled, _Hot & Naughty Schoolgirls, Volume 12_, no doubt attracted by the sight of a very familiar middle-school uniform on the cover.

_Oh, no_. _I'll never be able to wear those clothes in the Sengoku-jidai again! _She opened her mouth, but no words emerged. She had never been so embarrassed in her entire life, not even when she had caught Inuyasha peeping at her while she was bathing, that first time.

Miroku was now standing on tip-toe, unabashedly reading over the hanyou's shoulder. Kagome noticed that his cheeks were nearly as red as Inuyasha's. "This is truly...amazing," he muttered. 

Inuyasha swallowed hard. "People really--really _do_ that? To each other?" he said, his voice breaking in an undignified squeak.

"Er, I believe that, um, sometimes, they, uh, _do_," Miroku said, his eyes still glued to the pages. 

"Come on, guys!" Buffy said, coming to Kagome's rescue. And, quite possibly, Inuyasha's. "You can educate yourselves later. We have a train to catch!"

She plucked the manga out of Inuyasha's hand, and put it back on the rack. "You're probably not old enough for this stuff, anyway."

"I am, too!" he muttered, but that was the extent of his protest as Buffy spun him around by his shoulders, and sent him stumbling in the direction Sango had gone. He looked dazed.

"I can't believe they have something like that displayed in public!" Miroku said, looking longingly over his shoulder as he walked away. "Where anyone--young girls--can see it!"

Despite her discomfort, Kagome couldn't help teasing the monk. "Oh, they have manga like that for girls, too."

"Really?" said Buffy. "That's kind of cool. Something for everyone!" 

oo0oo

Shippou, Kouga and Inuyasha all began wincing as they progressed into the heart of Chichibu. Each store they passed seemed to emit a cacophany of electronic sounds and music, plus there were loudspeakers mounted on slow-moving vehicles that blared advertisements and announcements.

Fortunately, none of her friends were drawing attention to themselves beyond the oddities of their appearance, and Kagome began to relax a little. Perhaps they would make it the rest of the way home without any further..._incidents_. 

Still, she kept a close eye on Kouga and Inuyasha. At first, the wolf-prince was openly startled by his surroundings. Then, he saw how blasé Inuyasha was acting. The hanyou's clawed hands were tucked out of sight in his sleeves as he walked calmly down the street , the sight of the cars and toys seemingly beneath his notice. 

With an effort, Kouga folded his own arms, and kept his gaze focused straight ahead. His poise wasn't perfect, though. 

They reached the main intersection near the station just as a train came roaring and rattling through the crossing. Everyone jumped a little, even Kagome, but Kouga leapt backwards several meters, with a startled shout. "Dragon!"

Inuyasha began laughing. Loudly. Derisively. "You wimpy wolf! Don't tell me that _that_ scared you!" 

"Stupid dog-turd, I wasn't scared!" Kouga yelled. 

To Kagome's mortification, passers-by began stopping and pointing. 

"Yeah, really? I thought you were going to piss yourself any second!" Inuyasha was still laughing when Kouga took a swipe at him. 

Inuyasha dodged the blow, following up with one of his own, which Kouga blocked neatly. There was a ripple of applause from the onlookers. 

"Hey, these street-theater guys are really good," Kagome heard someone say as Kouga and Inuyasha began trading blows in earnest. 

She threw a pleading look at the others. Miroku responded first, slamming his staff over Inuyasha's head. The hanyou sat down, rather abruptly, on the sidewalk. "Ouch! What the fuck did you do _that_ for, bouzou?"

His language drew gasps from the watching people. Inuyasha glared at them, but Miroku simply hit him again. "Do _not_ make trouble for Kagome-sama, not now," he said, with quiet menace.

Snickering at Miroku's intervention stopped Kouga long enough for Buffy to reach the wolf-prince. She embraced him, incidentially pinning his arms at his side, and said, loudly and flirtatiously, "Wow, you are so amazing, Kouga-kun! Can I take your picture?"

As he stood frozen, gaping down at her, she batted her eyes at him. "Pretty please? Just one photo? In private? Just you and me, big boy?" 

The onlookers began laughing at her imitation of a smitten tourist. Buffy hooked her arm through his, and steered him, forcibly, back to the group. As she pulled him along, Kagome saw her say something else to him. He listened, looking unhappy, then nodded. 

When they reached Kagome, he took her hand and said, mournfully, "Kagome, I regret losing my temper just now with Inu-koro. Can you forgive me?"

"Of--of course, Kouga-kun," she said. 

She saw Miroku prod Inuyasha with his staff, and the hanyou rose to his feet, scowling. He, too, approached Kagome. 

"Miroku made me promise not to beat up that wimpy wolf until we've dealt with Naraku," he muttered, giving his rival a dirty look. 

It wasn't exactly an apology, but it was the best she was going to get from him. 

"Let's move on," Kagome said, wearily. "It wouldn't be good if you two were arrested for fighting in public." 

She spotted the train station two blocks up, and newly-motivated, she set off again. With an end in sight, it was somehow easier to grit her teeth against the pain that accompanied each step she took.

"Arrested?" she heard Kouga ask Buffy. "What does _arrested_ mean?"

oo0oo

The sickening realization hit Kagome as soon as she walked through the entrance of the train station. 

She came to a dead halt in the middle of the station hall, her stomach churning. What was she going to do? How was she going to get home now? 

"Eh, Kagome, what's wrong?" asked Inuyasha. The rest of the group straggled to a halt, looking curiously at the flashing neon signs of the shops inside the station.

"I--I don't have any money," Kagome said, miserably, the full scope of this latest disaster sinking in. "I left my purse at home. I didn't think I'd need it in the Sengoku-jidai."

"I have money, Kagome-sama," Miroku said, immediately. 

"It won't work, not here." Kagome was sure that none of the ticket machines would accept the ancient money, and she didn't think there was a coin dealer anywhere in this town.

"Hold on a sec," Buffy said, kneeling next to her backpack. She unfastened the flap and fished for something on the bottom, her arm engulfed to the shoulder in dirty t-shirts and socks. "Ah-ha!"

She pulled out two green bills. "I _knew_ I had some emergency cash stashed away. Do you think forty dollars will do it?"

"Thank you, Buffy-chan. Oh, thank you!" The sense of relief that poured through Kagome was so intense that her eyes began to sting. _I can't cry now_, she told herself, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We--we can exchange the money for yen at the post office. I saw one across the street." 

"Cool." Buffy pressed the money into Kagome's hand. "We probably won't be able to afford that taxi, though--will the train or subway take us all the way back to your house?" 

"There's a Metro station near the shrine--I pass it every morning on my way to school," said Kagome. "Oh, thank you. I was so stupid not to bring any money. I should have thought of it!"

"Don't worry about it." Buffy gave her a crooked smile "It's probably better that we're taking the train the whole way, anyway. There are too many of us to fit in one taxi, plus, I don't think Hiraikotsu and Miroku's staff would fit in the trunk. We'd have to tie them to the roof, and that would look _really_, um, strange." 

Kagome started to giggle, but stopped immediately. It hurt too much.

"Please wait here," she told the others. "Buffy and I need to exchange some money, but we'll be back very soon." 

"And, Sango," Buffy said, as she saw Miroku's gaze drawn irresistibly to a nearby magazine rack. "Try to keep the boys away from the newsstand, will ya?" 

Inuyasha hunched his shoulders. "I'm not interested in those stupid picture books, anyway." Kagome thought she saw him shudder. 

"Buffy-chan," called Shippou, who was standing, fascinated by the bank of vending machines along one wall. He gazed up at the displayed ranks of candy, beer, coffee, and chips. "When you return with money, can I _please_ have some candy?" 

Buffy laughed. "Sure thing, kiddo." She turned to Kagome. "I bet that buying a candy bar from one of those machines will probably give him a bigger kick than actually eating the candy."

oo0oo

The money exchange went smoothly. As they prepared to leave the post office, Kagome spotted the bank of payphones. So did Buffy. 

"We can warn them!" said Kagome.

"And get hold of Koji. It's been over a week...he must think I'm dead or something by now," Buffy added, wishing she had brought her cellphone with her. His number was stored in the phone's memory. _Oh, well, Grandpa Higurashi probably has his number, too._

She wondered if Koji would be able to get them some Slayer reinforcment from the tight-fisted Watcher's Council. _Probably not in their budget. Too bad that the Bringers killed all of the Potentials in Japan_...

At least Sango was here. And they had Kouga and Inuyasha on their side. 

oo0oo

Her hands shaking with nerves, Kagome went to a pay phone and dialed her home.

After three rings, which seemed to last an eternity, someone picked up the phone. _Thank goodness! Was everyone all right?_ In the next instant, Kagome was sure.

"Moshi-moshi," her grandfather said. He was alive! Everything would be all right, now. 

"Grandpa?" Kagome hated the way her voice broke. 

"Kagome-chan! Where are you? Are you all right?" His tone expressed surprise and concern--but only for her. _Naraku isn't there yet. Thank you, kami-sama!_ "It's been such a long time since you left! Is Summers-san okay? Minamide-sensei is very worried about her."

"We're all fine, Grandpa. But you have to leave the shrine, now! Take Souta and Mama with you. Something bad is coming!"

There was a long silence on the line, and Kagome's heart sank.

"But, Kagome-chan, I can't leave the shrine. It's my responsibility," said her grandfather, finally. "But don't worry. I have my spells here. They've been handed down in this family for generations. _Nothing_ will get past them!" 

Cold horror swept through her. Grandpa's spells were useless, and always had been--as everyone except for him seemed to realize. Now, his self-delusion might get him killed.

"I'm at the Chichibu station, Grandpa. Inuyasha is here, and so are my other friends. Buffy used her Portal Key--we brought everyone with us." Kagome took a deep, shuddering breath despite the pain in her ribs. She was babbling. "Grandpa, you _have_ to leave. Now! We'll be there soon, to fight--fight Naraku. But he's coming, and you have to leave!" 

Gramps sighed. "Don't worry, Kagome-chan. I have everything under control here." Which worried Kagome more than anything else he'd said so far. "Your mother and brother have already gone to Aunt Hitomi's." 

"Oh, that's good!" Aunt Hitomi lived clear on the other side of Tokyo from the Higurashi Shrine. 

"Kagome-chan?" asked Gramps.

"Yes, Grandpa?"

"I'm glad that Inuyasha is with you. I trust that he'll protect you. Tell him that, please." 

"I will, Grandpa." From the corner of her eye, Kagome saw Buffy's frantic gesture. "Oh, and can you please call Minamide-sensei, and let him know that we'll be there in about two hours?" 

"Hai." A moment of silence, then Gramps said, hesitantly: "Be careful, Kagome-chan. Don't make your mother sad, neh?"

"I won't," Kagome whispered. "Good-bye Grandpa."

She replaced the receiver, and turned back to Buffy. "Gramps thinks he can fight Naraku off by himself," Kagome said, dully. "At least Mama and Souta are gone."

Buffy nodded. "Well, the seals haven't broken yet," she said, sympathetically. "Maybe we'll get back to your place before anything happens." 

oo0oo

All in all, the train ride into Tokyo went more smoothly than Buffy had expected, given the odd assemblage she was traveling with. 

The Sengoku-jidai gang were glued to the windows as the train pulled out of the station. 

The lone holdout was Inuyasha, who had a faraway look in his eyes and the oddest expression on his face. 

Every so often, his gaze would focus on Kagome, and he'd look away again, very quickly. Buffy strongly suspected that his ears were twitching under that baseball cap. 

_Poor guy, he's probably wishing for some brain-bleach after that XXX schoolgirl thing, _thought Buffy. Then she remembered the first time she'd seen Kagome...hadn't she been wearing one of those uniforms? 

She had a feeling that both Kagome and the dog-boy were headed for a rude shock in the very near future. 

"Hey, this train-thing runs as fast as I do!" Kouga murmured in amazement as they picked up speed, and the trees blurred. 

The wolf-prince's expression went from amazed to horrified when they entered the Tokyo suburbs a short while later. "What happened?"

"What do you mean, Kouga-kun?" Kagome asked.

"This land belongs to the kitsune, and now I see nothing but buildings, buildings, buildings, as far as my eyes can see. The forests, the fields--where are they, Kagome?"

In contrast, Sango had a happy smile curving her mouth. 

"It looks so peaceful, so prosperous," she murmured. "None of these towns have stockades around them, like my village used to, and I haven't seen a single samurai or armed man since we arrived in your realm, Kagome. Are there no wars in your time?"

Kagome shook her head, very slightly. Her face had that pinched, pale look again, and it looked to Buffy that the only reason she was still sitting upright was because Inuyasha was next to her, supporting her. 

Even if he couldn't quite bring himself to make eye contact with her. Buffy saw Inuyasha's cap move, ever so slightly. _Yep. Definitely twitching. _

"There hasn't been a war in Japan in over fifty years," said Buffy, wondering if Kagome was going to make it all the way home. _Maybe we really _should_ drop her off at a hospital, no matter what she says. I bet I could get Inuyasha to help me. He's as worried as I am._ "It's a very peaceful country, these days."

Sango sighed. "That must be nice, not to have to worry about ronin despoiling your villages."

Miroku looked very thoughtful. "And you say this is a land without famine, Kagome-sama?"

"Well, _I_ don't understand why anyone wants to live here," grumbled Inuyasha, and for once, Kouga nodded in agreement. "The air stinks, and there are hardly any trees. Except for in the _parks_." He spoke that last word with palpable contempt.

oo0oo

When they finally arrived at the Higurashi Shrine, everything seemed quiet. The only sounds were Kagome's rasping breaths as she struggled up the steep stairs to the entrance. 

Buffy relaxed slightly as they passed under the torii, and saw a courtyard mercifully free of giant insect youkai or other nasties. _All clear_?

Then, she noticed the dead birds littering the courtyard, as if an entire flock had dropped dead at once. _Crap. Oh, crap._

"Demon miasma," said Miroku, as he spotted the tiny, feathered corpses.

In the same instant, Inuyasha said, "Naraku was here. I can smell it."

Cautiously, they approached the ruined wellhouse. 

"Oh, no." 

At those words, Buffy looked over to Kagome, and saw the girl clutching one of the remaining wooden posts with bloodless fingers. The well's wooden cover was gone.

"Grandpa was fine two hours ago," Kagome said, dully, staring at the torn remnants of the seals. "If only we'd gotten here earlier!"


	25. A Matter of Faith

23 23. A Matter of Faith

_Tokyo, the present day_

It was dark at the bottom of the Bone-eater's Well. The gloom smelled of musty earth overlaid with a faint, harsh, smoky stink like smoldering lacquerware. The circle of blue sky at the well's mouth had vanished, replaced by faint lines of indirect light filtering through cracks in what looked like planking.

All this meant that the Portal Key had actually worked. Naraku had arrived in the home realm of his rival for the Shikon-no-Tama, the strangely-dressed girl named Kagome.

_Of course it worked_, said the smug voice of Arashthoth the Gatekeeper. _With this well serving as your destination-focus_. _Did I not say it would?_ The demon that Naraku had absorbed grown disturbingly insolent of late, realizing that Naraku needed his knowledge. 

_But not for much longer_, thought Naraku. Arashthoth's time was growing short. He had only few secrets left to share, and when those were exhausted, the Gatekeeper would be...disposable. 

Naraku spied the long ladder leading upwards from the uneven dirt floor of the well, and smiled. How very convenient--and careless--of the girl. Why, it was practically an invitation! 

He rucked up the hem of his kimono, tucking it into his belt, and began to climb. Given the narrow circumference of the stone-lined shaft, he had found it more practical to travel through the portal using his human form.

As he neared the top of the ladder, Naraku felt the prickling sensation of power nearby. Someone was there, and they might be dangerous to him. He would kill them before they knew he was a threat. In his dangerously weakened state, he could not afford to wait and see if the presence was friend or foe. 

He reached up to push the well-cover aside, only to be greeted with an unexpected blast of purifying power as the seals pasted to the thick planks reacted to his youki. 

Naraku fell through the darkness, his component youkai screaming in pain, and hit the hard-packed earth of the well's bottom with a humiliating thump. 

Rising to his feet, he glared up through the darkness. _I will make her beg for death before I kill her! _

His youkai components agreed, hungering after sweet girl-flesh to speed the healing of their wounds. _Feed us!_ they implored. _We grow weak! We need meat and blood!_

_Soon_, he promised them. _Very soon_. 

By all rights, Kagome should have been killed by the first wave of insect-youkai he had sent through the portal. And yet, inexplicably alive and uninjured, she and her friends had launched an assault on his castle not three days ago. None of the youkai he had sent to kill her had returned. Even Kagura had not been able to stop her. 

As a result he, Naraku, had been wounded and forced to flee. His retreat rankled, and it had stirred up the rebellious components within his captive youkai. 

And so, he had decided to travel to her realm himself, and dispose of her when she arrived, alone and unsuspecting. Kagome would be all-but-helpless on this side of the well, without her allies--or that interfering hanyou, Inuyasha--to come to her aid. 

Naraku would avenge his injuries and at the same time rob his rivals of their precious miko, leaving them unable to sense the fragments of the jewel--or purify them. Safe from his enemies here, he would recover from his wounds and build himself a stronger body using the native youkai of this realm.

But first, he had to get out of this well. It was humiliating to be trapped like this. 

His component youkai shifted uneasily as his rage penetrated their consciousness, and with an effort, he tried to calm himself. 

Steeling himself against the pain, Naraku climbed the ladder again and, keeping his hand a cautious finger's-breadth from actually touching the underside of the well-cover, stretched out his senses and probed the devices sealing him in. 

The spells had been woven by someone both powerful and well-trained. Each loop and whirl of the intricate calligraphy glowed painfully to his youkai senses, the very ink infused with the maker's force of will. 

Yet no one stood guard here. Could it be that they underestimated him, and were relying solely on these scrolls to bar his passage? 

Naraku smiled despite the unpleasant proximity of the sealing spells, and began tracing the strands and knots of power to their source. 

What had been woven could also be unmade, given enough time. 

oo0oo 

Hours passed as he patiently unknotted, one by one, the searing strands of mystical energy that held him captive in the well. His youkai grumbled restively all the while, forcing Naraku to share the acid taste of their discontent. The most powerful youkai in all the islands of Japan, and yet here he was, forced to perch on a ladder in an old stone well while he worked to free himself.

Finally, he felt the last of the restraints loosen and dissolve, and the scrolls become mere paper once again. He braced his palms against the rough planks and heaved. The wood tore loose from the thin metal pegs fastening the cover to the rim of the well, and flew to one side. 

In an instant, Naraku was standing on the ground next to the well. He was inside a building--or what remained of a building. Most of the walls had been shattered, and the sides of the building stood open to the late afternoon light. The damage looked recent, he thought, noticing the pale scars in the otherwise-weathered wooden pillars supporting the roof. 

So, it appeared that his scouts had made it out of the well, at least. But had happened to them then? Had they simply abandoned their mission, and fled to gorge themselves on this realm's delights?

The sun hung low in the western sky, orange-colored and hazy. The burning smell was stronger out here, though Naraku could see no smoke from cooking fires anywhere nearby. 

He found himself on the grounds of a shrine that looked similar to the one that had housed the Shikon-no-Tama. Was the location of the Bone-eater's Well a sacred spot in both realms, then? 

Looking around, he saw that the shrine's precinct was surrounded by a grove of trees, beyond which rose a multitude of square buildings set with glittering windows. The air was filled with a variety of low growls and constant rumbling, as if something prowled restlessly beyond the shrine, though Naraku detected no youkai auras in the immediate vicinity.

The only living things he could sense were birds, an entire flock of them, hopping and twittering in the branches of a single ancient tree that stood in the center of the courtyard next to the well-house.

_Feed us!_ demanded his youkai. He paused in his contemplation of the odder structures beyond the grove, and released a cloud of miasma. In a moment, half the flock lay dying all around him. 

_I give you permission to eat_. Disappointment at the tiny prey gave way to ravening hunger. Greedy arms and tentacles erupted from beneath Naraku's robe, reaching for the birds. Naraku himself was hungry, but he could wait until he encountered more fitting prey. 

Then Naraku spied a large dwelling set behind the shrine's main hall on an upper terrace. He moved in that direction, ignoring the protests of those of those of his youkai who had not yet eaten. 

Dwellings meant people. People meant..._food_. And the house would make the perfect location from which to ambush Kagome when she finally returned to her realm. Perhaps he ought to artistically arrange a corpse or two to greet her as she came home. Terror would sweeten her blood...

He ascended the worn stone steps leading from one terrace to the next, and was halfway across the shrine's main courtyard when the sound of footsteps crunching on the raked gravel alerted him from his musings.

For a moment, an old man holding a broom stood gaping comically at Naraku. 

Naraku smiled coldly at him, knowing that he appeared to be nothing more than a youth dressed in rich clothing, long, unbound black hair flowing over his shoulders. It was a conveniently deceptive appearance.

Then the old man, who was most likely the shrine's caretaker, reached into his loose shirt and swiftly withdrew a packet of ofuda. 

"Who are you?" He brandished the inscribed papers at Naraku. "Are you human?"

Bracing himself for a powerful blast of mystical energy, Naraku was pleasantly surprised to sense only the feeblest trickle of power from the old man. _This_ one had not sealed the well, then. 

Naraku laughed and lashed out, sweeping the human aside as inconsequential. The papers fluttered to the ground like crippled birds, and Naraku heard the faint, delicious sound of bones breaking as the old man fell heavily against the base of a stone lantern. 

He moved forward swiftly, all of his parts focused intently on his victim. His mouth watered as he imagined the rich taste of marrow laced with salty blood seeping from a shattered skeleton.His youkai clamored for their share.

He heard a girl shout, followed immediately by a heavy _twang_. Something hit him in the chest, hard. He stumbled backward, and glanced down to see a heavy crossbow bolt embedded in his chest. 

Grimacing, he ripped it out, ignoring the pain, and his torn flesh resealed itself almost instantly. 

He looked for his opponent, and saw her, standing on the steps of the shrine's Hall of Worship. She was a dark-haired foreigner, dressed in the same tight clothing as the golden-haired youkai-taijya who had attacked him in his castle. 

As he tossed aside the bolt, she drew a long, straight sword and leapt from the stairs. Landing lightly near the center of the courtyard, she approached him, sword held at the ready. 

Naraku paused, frowning as he saw a swirl of youki surrounding her. It was weak, but it should not have been present at all on a mere human. 

The other foreign youkai-taijya had also possessed it, but in stronger measure. And he had seen it present around Kohaku's sister, as well. _Very strange_. 

But then he didn't have time to ponder the puzzle further. The girl attacked, her sword a copper-colored blur in the light of the setting sun.

Naraku instantly fashioned a weapon of youkai bone, stronger than steel, and countered her attack, blocking each of her blows. He swept a swift tentacle under her feet, and set her crashing heavily to the graveled ground, but before he could finish her off, another twang sounded, and aa second bolt slammed into his forearm. 

The girl rolled away and regained her feet. Still holding the sword, her eyes narrowed in concentration, she circled him. Naraku kept one eye on her, but looked for his other opponent.

There was a young Japanese man, also wearing the strange tight clothing, standing at the gate that separated the shrine from the dwelling. 

"Demon," he called, calmly loading a fresh bolt into his weapon. "Where is Higurashi Kagome? And where are the others--Inuyasha, and the taijya Summers-san?"

The girl attacked again, and Naraku drove her back. He laughed. "Dead." 

Not that the truth mattered. Nothing could save these two insolent humans now. 

_oo0oo _

"This place stinks of Naraku," Inuyasha snarled, as they left the shattered remains of the well-house behind. 

Then they heard indistinct shouting, and the ringing clash of a metal blade striking something. 

"Grandpa!" Kagome gave a muffled cry.

In an instant, Kouga and Inuyasha were gone. The baseball cap that Inuyasha had been wearing tumbled to the ground and rolled away as he bounded through the shrine in Kouga's wake. 

"Houshi-sama, take care of Shippou and Kagome-chan!" ordered Sango, hurriedly unslinging Hiraikotsu and stripping off her robe to reveal the youkai-skin armor beneath. 

"I'm coming, too!" Kagome said. Her face was pale, her forehead beaded with sweat, but her expression was fierce.

"Will you give Kagome a weapon?" Miroku asked. 

Buffy untied her naginata from the frame of her backpack. She took her sword and tossed it to Kagome. "Here--you know how to use this?"

"I'll figure it out," Kagome said, a determined set to her mouth. "If Naraku hurt my Grandpa, I'll make him pay!"

Buffy hefted her naginata. "Pointy end goes in the other guy," she advised, only half-joking. "We'll try not to finish Naraku off before you guys get there, okay?" 

"We'll be right behind you," Miroku assured her. He settled the butt of his staff into the ground and raised his evil hand. "I have a score to settle with Naraku."

Buffy looked over at Sango. "Ready?"

The other Slayer nodded. Together, they sprinted in the direction that Inuyasha and Kouga had taken. 

oo0oo

_Damn that wimpy wolf. Putting those shards in his legs is cheating_, Inuyasha thought as he tried to keep up with his rival. No way was he going to let Kouga get all the credit for saving Kagome's home from Naraku! 

_Naraku!_ Inuyasha felt a pang, perilously close to fear, as he saw how close the enemy had gotten to Kagome's house. That bastard was in human guise, and being held at bay by Kagome's friend Minamide Koji and a foreign girl Inuyasha didn't recognize. 

He leaped over the last set of stairs, drawing Tetsusaiga. As always, his sword transformed sluggishly in Kagome's realm, but it transformed, humming with demonic energies. 

Kouga was already in the thick of the fight, kicking away Naraku's sword-wielding arm as it swept down toward the girl. 

_Show-off!_ Inuyasha thought in disgust. Not that a few fancy punches could compete with his Kaze-no-Kizu. Weak as it was here, it could still hurt Naraku.

Then, the smell of fresh blood distracted him. Inuayasha came to a skidding halt as he saw Kagome's grandfather sprawled in the shadow of a stone lantern. 

He threw himself to his knees at the old man's side, and snarled. _That fucking bastard hurt Kagome's grandpa!_

_Still breathing_. Inuyasha reached out and put his clawed hand on the old man's neck. _Now, where's his heartbe--_

In the next instant, something speared him in the back. He heard the thin shriek as the fabric of his armor was pierced, and then a vast, hot pain that shoved him face-down into the ground. It was like Kagome's fucking osuwari command, only it hurt a lot more. _Wha--?_

Something heavy landed in the small of his back and sat on him, pinning his hips down. His nose was filled with an unfamiliar female scent. _What the hell?_ At the same time, his attacker grabbed the hair at the back of his head, and yanked, painfully forcing his head up. 

A blade, cold and sharp, drew a line of fire across his throat, but Minamide yelled something in a strange tongue, and the blade stilled abruptly, though the pressure on his hair didn't ease.

"What's the matter, Inu-koro?" Inuyasha heard Kouga taunting. "One little girl too much for you to handle? No wonder you couldn't protect Kagome!" 

And he realized that Kouga wasn't going to help him. _That fucking wolf is probably hoping I'll get killed so he can make Kagome his woman!_

oo0oo

And the first thing that Buffy saw when she reached the fight was..._Faith?_

_What the hell is _she_ doing here?_

Kouga was circling around Naraku, kicking and punching in a blur of arms and legs. Koji stood off to one side, firing a steady stream of crossbow bolts at the tall, writhing mass of limbs and tentacles that was Naraku.

And Faith...Faithwas_ s_traddling Inuyasha, and had him by the hair, with a long knife against his throat. "Hey, B., how's it hanging?" 

_Wow_._ She manages to make even fighting demons look kind of...dirty._

"Great," said Buffy, in English, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. _Of all the Slayers on the planet, why_ her "I see Koji brought reinforcements."

Faith grinned at her. "Caught this one trying to choke grandpa, but Koji won't let me kill him. You dating this demon, or something?"

Inuyasha growled and tried to take advantage of Faith's momentary distraction to heave her off his back. But she just twisted his long silver hair around her wrist, forcing his head up further, into a painful angle. 

Buffy ignored the other Slayer's jibe. "Faith, let go of him," she said. "He's a friend of the Higurashi family, and he's helping us."

Inuyasha yelled to Buffy in Japanese, "Tell that bitch to get off me before I break her legs!" 

"And you're making him _really_ cranky," added Buffy.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that," Faith said, easing up on his hair. She patted his head, and Buffy cringed when she saw the murderous expression on Inuyasha's face. "Cute ears." 

"Faith," Buffy said, in a warning tone. 

"Okay, okay!" Faith climbed off Inuyasha with a slow roll of her hips. 

"What the hell was _that_ for?" Inuyasha sprang to his feet, Tetsusaiga in his hand.

Faith took a step backward. For a long moment, the two of them glared at each other.

"It was a mistake, Inuyasha. She thought you were--" Then Buffy saw the large bloodstain surrounding the large gashes in the back and the front of his red robes. "Oh my God! Are you all right?" 

He shrugged. "I've been worse. You tell that one--" he jerked his chin in Faith's direction. "--to stay the fuck away from me. Or I'll kill her."

Then he was charging Naraku, though moving more slowly than usual. Buffy noticed that he had one hand pressed to his stomach._ Crap_._ Kagome's gonna kill me for this. _

"Faith, what the hell did you do to him?" Buffy demanded, switching back to English. "He's one of the _good_ guys. In fact, anyone who's not _him_--" she pointed at Naraku, who had sprouted tentacles and other appendages. "You don't slay. Capisce?"

"Sorry." Faith shrugged, looking distinctly unapologetic. "Hey, if it looks like a demon, I hit first, ask questions later. You live longer that way." She lifted her red-stained sword. "Now, B., you said I could hit _this_ guy, right?"


	26. Making a Desert, and Calling It Peace

24 24. Making a Desert, and Calling It Peace

_Higurashi Shrine, Tokyo, the present day_

Buffy watched Faith lope across the terrace with long, swinging strides, and rejoin the fight. She stood for a long moment, observing the other Slayer intently. _Not that I don't trust her...well, because I don't_. 

But it looked like Buffy didn't have anything to worry about. Faith was enthusiastically swinging her sword, lopping off segments of Naraku's tentacles, and leaving Kouga, Shippou, and Inuyasha strictly alone. 

Buffy frowned, noticing that the large dark bloodstain on the back of Inuyasha's red kimono-thingy had grown larger in the last few minutes. It looked like Faith had run him clean through with her sword--it was a wonder he could still stand, much less fight. 

"Help me up, Summers-san," said Grandpa Higurashi, in a raspy voice. "I have to help them." He braced his arm against the ground, gasped, and fell back with a groan. 

"I think you should stay put, Higurashi-san," Buffy said, examining him with a trained eye. "I think your arm may be broken. We'll take you to the hospital, along with Kagome, when this is over." She bent, extending her hand to him. "Can you stand?"

"Of course!" He scrabbled for some of the scattered paper rectangles with his uninjured arm. "I can still fight! It's my duty to protect this shrine!"

"Ojii-san," Buffy said, politely but firmly. "Kagome will be very angry with all of us, but especially me, if you are injured further. Please let us fight on your behalf--we're trained professionals, after all."

"I'm a professional, too." Grandpa's face set in a stubborn frown. "And these spells have been passed on for gener--"

"I'm sure they're very powerful. But--" and Buffy was hit with sudden inspiration. "You asked Koji-san for help, didn't you? He's a Watcher, and you'll make him lose face if you don't allow his Slayers to defend this shrine. "

She saw her logic hit home. _Score one for a week in the Sengoku-jidai! Some things just haven't changed in five hundred years!_

"It's our sacred duty to fight demons, after all," she added. "Faith came all the way from Los Angeles do it. And Sango came five hundred years...please permit us to help you, Ojii-san."

He tucked in his chin, glaring at her from beneath his bushy eyebrows, but she saw he was sweating. _Probably in a lot of pain_. 

"Very well," he grumbled. "But just this once. I wouldn't want to...insult Minamide-sensei. Or Kagome-chan's friends."

"Thank you," Buffy said, relieved. "Please wait here until we are finished."

She turned back to the fight, glancing over her shoulder to make sure he stayed put. He still held the crumpled papers in his hand, but he was half-slumped against one of the balustrades lining the edge of the terrace, and she didn't think he was going anywhere. 

oo0oo

"HIRAIKOTSU!" 

Sango's battle cry distracted the wolf-youkai's attention just long enough for Naraku to send a pincer-tipped limb slicing into his opponent's leg, where a shard of the Shikon jewel gleamed. 

Naraku did not quite manage to extract the shard, but his attempt deeply scored the wolf-youkai's leg. _That should slow him down a little_, thought Naraku, as the smell of wolf's blood mingled with the hanyou's. 

Then Naraku heard the heavy thrum of the youkai-taijya's boomerang. The wolf-youkai threw himself flat on the ground, and the weapon skimmed over his prone form. 

Naraku hastily raised a barrier, and--barely--deflected the gleaming, deadly arc of youkai-bone. 

But in doing so, he discovered something dismaying: only the barest thread of youki existed in this place for him to draw upon. 

Naraku looked closely at his enemies. Inuyasha's sword had transformed, but the great steel fang was wreathed with only the faint ghosts of its usual blazing demon energies. And, most telling, the hanyou had not yet tried to use the sword's devastating Kaze-no-Kizu attack.

Accustomed to dipping into the great, swirling sea of power in his own realm, Naraku felt the dismay of a desert traveler stumbling on a wide, dry riverbed, and finding only a small, sluggish trickle of life-giving water. 

It was the latest disappointment in a day filled with setbacks. 

And how had his opponents arrived here so quickly? 

His castle had been situated at least a four-day journey away from the Bone-eater's Well, and with the exception of the firecat youkai, none of his enemies could fly. 

And yet, here they were, the dog-hanyou and his companions, and their steady attacks, weak as they were, were extracting a toll. 

Naraku snarled, and dropped his barrier long enough to lash out at Inuyasha, sending him skidding across the courtyard in a thick shower of gravel, and crashing against the steps leading up to the shrine's main building. The hanyou crawled shakily to his feet, still holding his sword, but Naraku noted the dark smear of blood left behind on the gray stone. 

A half-century ago, Inuyasha had interfered with Naraku's plans for Kikyo, and had been sealed for his presumption. Yet, here he was again, bound to Kikyo's reincarnation, and still interfering with Naraku's schemes.

The dark-haired foreigner taijya charged him, and Naraku hastily raised his barrier again. 

She was either ignorant or foolish, for she simply ignored it, and swung her sword with all her strength. Her expression was one of comical astonishment as the barrier repelled her, tossing her backwards nearly as far as Inuyasha had been thrown only moments earlier. 

Then he noticed that the yellow-haired youkai-taijya was suddenly blazing with powerful youki. It outshone the weak youki of the other two taijya, like sunlight overpowering the flickering light of two oil lamps. A human girl should not possess youki at all, yet at this moment, it swirled around her in a brilliant whirlwind, stronger even than the energies swirling around the wolf-youkai. 

_How is she able to summon such power in this barren wasteland? _

She had not possessed this aura when she and Sango attacked him in his castle, Naraku thought, watching her closely, letting his barrier fend off the renewed attacks of the other taijya, the wolf-youkai, and Inuyasha. 

If he absorbed her, he would gain her strength. His stomach clenched in revulsion at the thought of allowing a human to pollute him, and yet, in this realm, she was powerful. He needed that power. 

He took the chance, and dropped his barrier again, sending his limbs flowing toward her. 

"Buffy--watch out!" A red blur snatched her around the waist and suddenly, she was beyond Naraku's grasp. 

Inuyasha had interfered, yet again, but the sudden movement cost him.

He stood panting, a blood-stained hand held over his stomach. The yellow-haired girl's clothing was blotched scarlet where she had pressed against him. At this rate, hanyou or not, he wouldn't last much longer before he passed out. 

The others took the opportunity to renew their attacks, and Naraku felt more of his precious essence hacked away by the taijyas' swords, that damned bone boomerang, and the wolf-youkai's brute-force blows. 

He raised his barrier once more, desperately sucking up the meager threads of youki, and feeding all his strength into shielding himself.

Why had he come here? A realm without youki was useless to him. He could establish no dominion over a wasteland filled only with the stink of teeming humanity! 

oo0oo

"What the hell _is_ that?" Faith yelled, as she came too close to one of the dismembered Naraku-bits, and it grabbed her, digging dark talons into her jeans-clad leg. "Ow--get _off_ me, you gross piece of shit!"

"It's the Big Bad of the sixteenth century!" Buffy replied, deftly swinging her naginata. 

The clawed thing abruptly released its hold on Faith as Buffy's blade sliced through tendon and muscle, and it fell to the ground. 

"Big bad Naraku-bit, meet Faith. Faith, meet big bad Naraku-bit."

It lay there, twitching convulsively, until Faith stomped on it viciously with her thick-soled army boots. "Thanks a lot, B."

"Don't mention it," Buffy said dryly, fending off yet another swiftly flowing pseudopod. 

Naraku seemed to be targeting her, all of a sudden, and she couldn't figure out why. But she used the opportunity to chop off as many parts as came within reach of her weapon. 

Sooner or later, she thought grimly, she'd carve enough away to reach his Portal Key, wherever he'd tucked it. 

oo0oo

Kagome struggled up the last set of stairs, and saw the battle at long last. 

"Kagome-sama, are you sure you're all right?" Miroku touched her shoulder, his expressive dark eyes concerned. 

She shook off his hand. "I'm fine," she lied, as she clutched her side and tried to catch her breath. 

Each lungful felt like she was being punched with sharp slivers of glass. Why, oh why, had her ancestors built this shrine on a hill? Before today, she had never stopped to count how many steps she had to climb to get from the street to her house. 

But she had made it at last, and the fight was still raging. With satisfaction, she noticed that Naraku seemed to be getting the worst of it. 

Kagome felt Miroku's sudden stillness, and followed his glance. 

Sango looked magnificent in her leather armor, swinging her boomerang so rapidly that it was little more than an ivory streak scattering flesh and bone before it. Miroku's expression softened, as it always did when he looked at the taijya. 

"Go," said Kagome, forcing a smile. "I know you want to fight. And I'll be fine. Really." 

"If you're sure..." Miroku said, politely, but his gaze was glued to Sango as Kouga barrelled into her, pushing her out of the way of a swinging tentacle. 

The two of them rolled over and over in the gravel like two lovers. Then, like a dancer, Kouga regained his feet, effortlessly swinging Sango to hers as well. She dipped, gracefully, grabbed Hiraikotsu by one of its handles, and brought her weapon up and over her head once more. 

She shared a fierce grin with the wolf-youkai, and Kagome heard Miroku sigh. His fingers tightened around his staff. 

"Go," repeated Kagome, firmly. 

"Stay here," he commanded as he strode forward, unwrapping the rosary that sealed his cursed palm. 

Then she saw Inuyasha--and her breath caught in her throat. His fire-rat armor was soaked with blood, and he was moving with unaccustomed slowness. 

And if Inuyasha was injured...Kagome looked desperately around for her grandfather. 

And saw him slumped some distance away. His eyes were closed and his face was contorted in pain. 

Her first thought was, _Thank the gods, he's alive!_

Her second thought swept in on a powerful tide of rage. _I'm going to kill Naraku for this._

oo0oo

Naraku finally spotted the girl Kagome. And, more troublesome, the monk Miroku, looking fresh and uninjured. 

The monk hurried to join the fray. Predictably, as he approached, he began to unseal the wind-void in his hand. 

_Fool! I placed that curse on his bloodline. And he thinks to defeat me with it? _

Naraku reached into what remained of his long robes, and pulled out the hive of poison bees. He had brought them along to help scout out this new realm, but they would serve another purpose just as well.

At his command, the huge insects poured out of the hive, and hovered, awaiting further instruction. 

With a curl of amusement, Naraku saw Miroku's face contort in frustrated rage for a moment. Then, with a visible effort, the monk got his emotions under control. He swiftly resealed his cursed hand.

Naraku saw pure blue energy swell around Miroku as he gripped his staff. With sharp, precise motions, he began to swing the jangling, metal-tipped length, each blow purifying--and vaporizing--the various dismembered parts that still strove to rejoin with Naraku's essence. 

oo0oo

_He came to my HOME and hurt my grandfather! _

Forgetting Miroku's orders, Kagome stepped forward. She felt energized with rage, the pain of her injuries only a distant echo now. 

"Kaze-no-Kizu!" Inuyasha swung Testusaiga, and Kagome saw the red wave of power break Naraku's barrier. 

But the sword's force was considerably reduced, and Naraku emerged from the blaze looking a little singed but otherwise whole. 

As if using the Wound of the Wind had drained the last of his strength, Inuyasha fell to his knees. Only his hold on his sword, now firmly planted in the earth, kept him from sprawling full-length. 

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted. 

Naraku, weakened as he was, lost no time in sending a thick mass of tentacles in the hanyou's direction. If they reached Inuyasha, he would be absorbed. 

_Inuyasha!_ Without thinking, she reached into her shirt, and grabbed the vial of Shikon shards. 

She screamed with fury, feeling power rush out of her like the shriek issuing from her throat. A great bolt of rose-colored light raced across the terrace like an arrow, engulfing Naraku. 

Splintered impressions: _Kouga diving at Inuyasha, dragging him out of the path of the purifying light. Minamide-sensei, his crossbow still raised to his shoulder, gaping at her. Naraku exploding, disintegrating into a mass of demons, leaving only his human body behind._

And then the pain came crashing in, and the world disappeared. 

oo0oo

Every hair on Buffy's body prickled and stood up as the edge of the great surge of mystical energy brushed her. Then Kagome folded over, like a marionette whose strings had just been cut, and collapsed.

"Kagome!" came the hoarse cry, ripped from Inuyasha's throat. 

He stumbled to her side, sank to the ground beside her, and gathered her up in a desperate embrace. She disappeared behind a curtain of silver hair and wide, red sleeves. Only her long, slender legs remained in view. 

"Shit! They're getting away!" shouted Faith, in English. 

Buffy tore her attention away from Inuyasha and Kagome, to find that Naraku had been reduced to human proportions. He was now surrounded by a jostling crowd of youkai in various shapes and sizes, all of them scattering to the four corners of the shrine. 

"Don't let any of them escape," called Miroku in Japanese, swinging his staff and purifying one of the slower youkai. 

The weary team swung into action, easily countering the half-hearted attacks by the bewildered youkai, dispatching them with staff, naginata, sword, boomerang, and in Kouga's case, powerful blows that literally ripped his opponents to shreds. 

Buffy decapitated something that looked like a really big lizard with glowing red eyes, then came face to face with a cringing, warty, humaoid demon. 

"Don't kill me, please!" it begged. "I am Arashthoth the Gatekeeper, a poor captive of that thing!"

Buffy stopped the downward swing of her naginata. _Gatekeeper?_ Now, why did that sound familiar? Then memory supplied the rest. 

"_You're_ the one who gave Naraku that Portal Key," she said, angrily, and Arashthoth cringed. 

"He _took_ it, my lady! Stole it from me," whined the demon. 

Buffy hesitated. Should she believe him, or just kill him, along with the other youkai?

"Oi, bitch!" she heard Inuyasha yell. "What the hell are you waiting for? Naraku's getting away!"

Buffy looked up, and saw that Naraku was heading straight for the Bone-eater's Well, his tattered kimono and long, unbound hair streaming behind him. 

And he still had his Portal Key.

She turned on her heel and sprinted after his fleeing figure. She couldn't let him reach the well-house, and make his getaway. Not this time.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the silver flash of Faith's sword as the other Slayer sliced through Arashthoth. She felt a moment of pity for the demon, then focused on the immediate crisis 

Disdaining the stairs as too slow, Buffy vaulted over the balustrade, and landed lightly on the terrace below. Instantly she began running again. 

Up ahead, she saw the tall bulk of the Sacred Tree, silhouetted against the blood-red twilight. 

She was gaining on him. But he was getting dangerously close to the well. 

Buffy forced her legs to go faster, cursing as she saw the fluttering hem of his kimono disappear into what remained of the well-house. 

"Buffy!" she heard Shippou shout as she raced by the Sacred Tree. She saw a fox-shape on one of the lower branches, but didn't have the breath to answer him. 

She skidded around the corner, and flung herself through the doorway of the well-house, just in time to see the blue brilliance of an activating portal filling the gloomy interior. 

Naraku was standing on the sunken floor almost directly below her, the Portal Key glowing in his hand, an answering light pulsing from the shaft of the well.

_Nonononononono_...

"Oh. No. You. Don't!" She flung herself into space from the top of the stairs, diving down on top of him.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. 

She swung her naginata as she fell through the air, and felt it strike flesh--and bone. 

The Portal Key's sphere flew out of Naraku's grasp. It hit the ground and bounced, its light abruptly extinguished. 

Buffy hit him squarely between the shoulders, and the impact of her landing sent him face down into the dirt, as neatly as any of Kagome's "osuwari!" commands. 

Something pink and glowing landed just out of reach, on the other side of the well from the Portal Key: his hoard of the Shikon no Tama shards. 

Buffy rolled off him immediately, wary of being absorbed, and scrambled to her feet, snatching up the naginata. 

Naraku screamed, a hoarse, inhuman sound of rage. His eyes glowed deep violet as he glared at her, and Buffy found herself stepping back, involuntarily. 

oo0oo

She had cut off his hand. That human bitch had cut off his hand, and taken both the shards and the Key from him! 

Now, she stood, her youki blazing in the darkness, and lifted her weapon. Thinking to finish him off, no doubt. 

He knew that he was still faster than she was, even in his present injured and reduced state. 

The problem was that the Portal Key and his Shikon shards lay on opposite sides of the well-house. To retrieve one, he would have to sacrifice the other. 

He wanted the Portal Key. But Arashthoth had escaped, taking his knowledge with him, and Naraku had greater need of the Shikon-no-Tama. With the jewel shards, he would heal himself, and continue to wield power in his own realm. 

With a snarl, he made his decision, just as the kitsune cub came charging into the well-house. "Buffy! Buffy!"

"Get the Key!" yelled the taijya, and the kitsune dove for the sphere.

Using the last reserves of his strength, Naraku lunged for his precious jewel shards, and felt the chain tangle in the fingers of his remaining hand as the naginata sliced through the muscles of his leg. 

He dove over the lip of the well. As Naraku fell into the darkness, he hoped against hope that Arashthoth had been right about the well's properties, and that it could return him to his own realm even without a Key. 

With profound relief, he felt the portal open and swallow him. 

As he drifted though the star-speckled darkness, Naraku vowed he would build himself a better, stronger body. 

And then he would make sure that Kikyou's reincarnation troubled him no more. 

oo0oo

Panting, Buffy let herself sink down on to the wooden steps. Shippo, holding the Key close to his chest, came trotting proudly back to her.

"Here you go!" he chirped, reaching up, apparently oblivious to the fact that Naraku's severed hand was still clenched tightly around the key. 

_Guess I'll just have to pry his cold, dead, fingers off it,_ Buffy thought with a shudder as he accepted it. 

"Great job, Shippou-chan," she said, sincerely. "You saved the day."

His entire body lit up with the force of his incandescant, fanged smile. 


	27. Shopping with the Slayers

25 25. Shopping with the Slayers

_Higurashi Shrine, Tokyo, the present day_

Buffy, the Portal Key tucked securely in her jacket pocket and Shippou riding proudly on her shoulder, slowly made her way back to the scene of the battle. She suspected that she was going to be really stiff and sore when she woke up tomorrow morning. 

As she mounted the last of the steps to the shrine's upper terrace, she saw that the others had finished the youkai mop-up. Koji, Sango, and Faith were hauling demon-corpses to form a crude pile. Faith didn't look too happy about being on cleanup crew, but she at least she was doing her part. 

_Huh. Guess her stay in prison really did reform her_. 

"...just throw them in the well," Grandpa Higurashi was saying. He was still sitting on the ground, but he looked livelier than he had earlier. "They'll disappear in a few days. That's why we call it the Bone-eater's Well, you know. It's been part of this shrine for centuries..."

Buffy left his droning voice behind, and headed for the center of the courtyard. Inuyasha and Kagome were still huddled on the ground, and Kouga was sitting cross-legged next to them. 

"I've been trying to get Dog-Turd to stop bleeding on my woman," Kouga said, peevishly, as Buffy approached. The wolf-prince looked a bit battered around the edges, and one of his leggings was matted with drying blood. "Maybe he'll listen to _you_." 

"I'm not leaving her," Inuyasha growled without looking up. 

"How is she?" Buffy asked, trying to spot Kagome under the concealment of Inuyasha's hair and the sleeves of his kimono-thingy.

"I'm awake now," Kagome said, her voice sounding a little muffled. "And...okay, I think."

"Then will you please ask Inuyasha to let you go long enough so that someone can drive you to the emergency room?"

"I'm going with her." There was steel in Inuyasha's tone.

Buffy reached down and--gently--tugged one of his velvety puppy-ears. "Then you'd better let me patch you up."

Inuyasha jerked out of her grasp. "I don't need your fucking bandages--I'll be healed by tomorrow." 

She gave an exasperated sigh. "Oh yeah? Well it's _today_ that I'm worried about."

"What do you mean?" Raising his head at last, he pinned her with his golden gaze. 

Buffy put her hands on her hips, and returned the glare. "Here's the deal, dog-boy: if you don't let go of Kagome, let me bandage you up, and at least put on a clean shirt, then I'm going make sure you don't make it past the gate of this shrine." 

"Keh. Just try to stop me," he said with his usual bluster, but his face was absolutely colorless. 

_Probably blood loss_, Buffy noted. _Wonder if he's gonna pass out if tries to stand up_?

She wrinkled her nose "There are three Slayers here. And I'm sure Kouga-kun would help me."

The wolf-prince gave a short laugh. "You don't have to ask twice." He started to get to his feet, but Buffy put a firm hand on his shoulder, keeping him down.

"Though," Buffy said, thoughtfully, to Inuyasha. "Considering how much blood you've lost in the last twenty minutes, I could probably hold you down myself."

"You're always such a bossy bitch," Inuyasha grumbled, but Buffy sensed victory.

"It's for your own good," she said. "Because if you show up at the hospital in the shape you're currently in, they'll have you tranq'd and in emergency surgery before you can say _Sankontessou_!"

"Keh!" But he allowed Buffy to give him a hand up. 

As she'd predicted, he swayed dangerously as soon as he gained his feet. Buffy looped her arm around his waist to steady him, carefully avoiding his wound. At the same time, Kouga swooped in and deftly caught Kagome before Inuyasha could drop her. 

"Gah." The wolf-prince held her at arms'-length and surveyed her. "Can we bathe her before she goes to this 'hospital'? She reeks of dog."

"Kouga-kun!" Kagome frowned at Kouga's words, an expression that the wolf-prince utterly failed to notice. 

Inuyasha growled, but weakly.

"Well, she'll need a change of clothing, at any rate," Buffy said, then quickly called, as Kouga's eyes lit up with unholy interest: "Sango-chan! Can you help Kagome put on a clean blouse?"

oo0oo

"I can't believe you let Naraku get away with the shards," Inuyasha grumbled as Buffy taped a thick square of gauze over the stab wound in his back. 

The threat of being left behind had been enough to make him submit--more or less quietly--while Buffy cleaned his wounds with disinfectant.. 

"It was that or let him have the Portal Key, and I didn't think we wanted him back for a return visit," Buffy pointed out. "Turn around."

He huffed a little, but obeyed her. He had draped the thick mass of his hair over his shoulder to keep it out of Buffy's way. Now, he swung it back over his shoulders and let it drop. It reached almost to his butt. 

_Speaking of which_, Buffy thought, sneaking a look down. He had insisted on keeping his baggy red pants on, so she still hadn't discovered whether he had a tail. The rest of him was very nicely muscled. _Lucky Kagome!_

She turned her attention to the exit wound on his torso. It had already stopped bleeding, and was just seeping a little now. _He heals as fast as Slayers do_, thought Buffy as she folded a second gauze pad, and began to cut lengths of first-aid tape. 

Then, since they were in the bathroom, anyway, Buffy made Inuyasha bend over the drain set into the floor tiles. Using the showerhead on its flexible cord, she quickly rinsed the matted blood and dirt out of his hair. 

"Okay," she announced, handing him a towel. "I think you're presentable enough to escort Kagome to the hospital."

He threw her a sour look as he dried his hair. "You wouldn't have really stopped me."

"Probably not," she agreed, taking back the towel, and handing him one of Grandpa Higurashi's traditional Japanese shirts. "But you look better now...a bit damp but at least you're not sporting the massive bloodstains any more." 

They emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, Inuyasha sulking, and Buffy in successful possession of his stained jacket. 

Inuyasha claimed the fire-rat fur would repair itself in a day or two, but she was determined to run it through the washing machine anyway while dog-boy was sitting in the ER, waiting for Kagome and Grandpa.

Kagome was perched on the stairs, phone in her hand. "Mama says she'll meet us at the hospital," she reported. "And we should come up with a plausible story about why Grandpa and I are injured."

"Um, you were doing some renovations on the shrine, and, um something collapsed? Fell on top of you?" Buffy suggested. 

Kagome pursed her lips. "I guess that's better than saying we got hurt while fighting off a time-traveling demon," she said, a little doubtfully.

Koji, who was standing nearby, said, "I hope you don't mind if I leave for a while, Summers-san. I promised to drive Kagome-chan and Higurashi-san to the hospital." 

Inuyasha crossed his arms and raised his chin, his golden eyes staring intently at the young Watcher. 

"And, um, Inuyasha-san, as well, of course," Koji added hastily.

"No problem," said Buffy. "I'll try to keep the gang entertained...and out of trouble." She turned to Kagome. "Is there a grocery store nearby? I'm pretty sure that your Mom wasn't counting on an extra seven people for dinner."

Kagome looked pale and shaky in the aftermath of the fight. "That's very kind of you, Buffy-chan." 

Buffy shrugged. "I'm sure Sango might be interested in seeing where all the ramen comes from."

Inuyasha's ears perked up--literally--at the word _ramen_, and Kagome smiled fondly at him. 

oo0oo

Koji left shortly thereafter to fetch his Toyota from its parking space a couple of blocks away. Inuyasha escorted Kagome and Grandpa across the shrine grounds, a red baseball cap firmly pulled over his ears.

The rest of the gang had made themselves comfortable in the living room, sitting on the futon couch and on large cushions scattered across the tatami floor. 

When Buffy slid open the door, she saw they were watching what looked like Japanese MTV. Kouga and Miroku looked particularly fascinated by the rather scantily-clad all-girl band.

Faith looked bored. Then again, thought Buffy with some sympathy, it wasn't as if she could actually hold a conversation with anyone in the room. The only English speakers, other than Buffy herself, had just left for the hospital. 

"Hey," said Buffy, weaving her way through the living room, and dropping down to sit next to her one-time nemesis. 

"Hey," replied Faith. "So, you wanna catch me up on the Justice League of Japan, here?" She raised an eyebrow, and looked meaningfully around the living room.

They _were_ kind of an odd collection of fighters, thought Buffy, looking at her companions. "Well, um, the girl with the ponytail is Sango. She's a Slayer, but from the sixteenth century." 

Sango looked over as she heard her name. She smiled politely at Faith, then slapped away Miroku's hand from her knee. 

Buffy grinned. "The young guy in the purple and blue robes is Miroku. He's a Buddhist monk, also from the sixteenth century. Watch out for his evil hand..."

She continued the introductions for everyone else in the room, then cleared her throat, and said, loudly, in Japanese: "Um, everyone? This is Faith, my fellow youkai-taijya from California."

Only Miroku and Sango bothered to murmur "Hajimemashite." 

Shippou looked away from the TV long enough to ask Buffy, "She isn't going to try and exterminate _me_, is she? I'm just a little kid!"

"If she tries anything, I'll kill her," Kouga said, pleasantly, giving Faith a deceptively mild stare from his wide, blue eyes. He had his injured leg propped up on the low table in front of him. Someone--maybe Kagome--had bandaged it, probably to keep the wolf-youkai from bleeding on the Higurashi's furniture. "You can tell her that, if you like, Buffy."

"I think she made an honest mistake, and nothing else will happen," Buffy said, uneasily. At least she _hoped_ nothing else would happen. Her fellow Slayer wasn't exactly the most stable person. To Faith, she said, "Everyone said they're pleased to meet you."

"Right back at 'em," Faith said, in English, and leaned her head back against the wall. She looked at Buffy from the corner of her eye. "I guess I'm on their shit list for shish-kebabing the guy with the ears, huh?" Without waiting for Buffy to reply, she asked: "Speaking of which, where'd he go? 

"With Koji. To the hospital," replied Buffy. 

"I, uh, guess I should go apologize when he gets back, huh?" Faith blinked as Buffy's words sank in. "He went to the _hospital_? You don't think, they'll, uh, notice?" She put her finger up to her hair, and wiggled them in imitation of Inuyasha's ears, looking more like a demented Easter bunny than a hanyou.

Shippou giggled.

"Not if he keeps his baseball cap on and stays in the waiting room like a good dog-demon," said Buffy. Privately, she was willing to bet that Inuyasha would insist on being right there in the examining room along with Kagome and the physician on duty.

"Huh." With a sense of unease, Buffy noticed that Faith was checking out Kouga. "So, um, B.? The guy with the great legs...are you _sure_ he's a demon?"

_Great_, thought Buffy. _I should have remembered that fighting always makes Faith really horny_. "Positive. They just make 'em a little less warty in Japan. Kouga is a wolf-youkai, and the little guy, Shippou, is a fox-youkai, but a really young one. Kagome's sort of adopted him."

"And Inuyasha is a dog-demon?"

"Half-demon. I think his mom was human."

"Don't tell me Kagome adopted _him_, too?" Faith laughed. "Okay, so we managed to defeat the big bad. What _else_ is there to do in this town?"

"Um, I don't suppose you'd be interested in going to a real live Japanese grocery store?" Buffy ventured. "I was thinking of picking up some food for dinner tonight."

"You've got to be kidding me." Faith fixed her with a skeptical look. "You _are_ kidding, right?"

Buffy sighed. "Guess I'm getting boring in my old age. Not kidding, but if you wanna stay here with Miroku and Kouga, I'll take Sango."

"Nah, I'll go," Faith said, relenting. "Maybe we can talk girly Slayer stuff. You know, like the most disgusting demon we've ever killed. That sort of thing."

oo0oo

"So, it's true?" asked Sango, as she, Faith, and Buffy walked over to the corner market. "Taijya are supposed to fight the undead first, and rogue youkai second? But aren't youkai more dangerous?"

All things considered--and with frequent pauses in the conversation as Sango got distracted by items in the store windows they passed--the conversation between the three Slayers was going pretty well, with Buffy acting as a translator. 

Shippou trotted along proudly their heels. In Kagome's absence, he had begged them to take him along, and Buffy hadn't had the heart to refuse him. He was wearing some of Souta's clothes, the cuffs of the jeans dragging on the ground and concealing the fact that none of Souta's shoes had fit his little paws. His bushy tail was hidden by an oversized jacket and an empty backpack. 

"In our world, the vampires are definitely more dangerous," Buffy said, after translating Sango's comments for Faith. "They're smart, strong, and they prey on humans. Most demons--at least the ones that appear in our dimension--sort of try to blend in, and humans aren't their primary food source."

"Exterminating the undead?" chirped Shippou. "It's too bad you didn't encounter that undead miko that's Inuyasha's obsessed with. Kagome have been relieved to see you eliminate her rival. "

"Rival? Kagome has an undead rival?" Buffy asked, blinking.

"Kikyo," Sango said, quietly. "A demon sorceress resurrected her from bones and grave-soil last year. Now, Kikyou has sworn to drag Inuyasha down to hell with her, because he betrayed her in life." She shrugged. "I do not know the entire story--Inuyasha refuses to speak of it, and Kagome says very little."

"THAT Kikyo? The same one who put dog-boy under a spell for fifty years?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah," said Shippou, clenching his little fists. "I hate her. She tried to hurt Kagome, and she stole Kagome's shards and gave them to Naraku. Kagome would be happy if Kikyo died again."

"No, no," interjected Sango, thoughtfully. "Kagome-chan is too kind. She knows Inuyasha would grieve if anything happened to Kikyo, especially since he failed to protect her while she was alive, and so Kagome would never do anything to harm Kikyou. Kikyou on the other hand..." Sango's face darkened. "I despise her. She should have stayed dead!"

As she translated for Faith, Buffy considered this information in light of what she'd seen of Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship. He seemed so totally smitten with Kagome...was he really two-timing her with an undead girl? 

"Does the undead chick drink blood? Faith asked. 

Buffy relayed the question to Sango. 

"No, she devours the souls of the dead," answered the youkai-taijya. "Mostly young girls, but I've heard she also treats the wounded after battle, and devours those who don't survive their injuries. "

"Ewww. That's even grosser than neck-biting," commented Faith. She gave Buffy's scarred throat a significant glance, and Buffy felt her face heat. 

She was saved from having to reply by Shippou's excited shout: "Is this the market, Buffy?"

They went through the glass doors, and all of them--even Buffy--gawked. 

_How on earth am I going to find anything for dinner, when I can't even identify most of the stuff here?_ she thought, as they walked up the nearest aisle. It seemed to be some kind of deli section, the large refrigerator cases crowded with all kinds of food in shrink-wrapped styrofoam trays. 

"Um, Sango...?" Buffy ventured, after a few stunned moments of looking over packages of something that looked like dessert. They were dyed virulent shades of pink and green. Not for the first time, she regretted that Gile's language charm didn't cover _written_ Japanese. 

Sango examined the package as if it contained about-to-hatch youkai spawn. "The writing says it is fish-cake, but the color..." she wrinkled her nose. 

"Okay," said Buffy. "No fish-cake, then. Maybe, uh, grilled meat? We could get some chicken and barbeque it on a hibatchi."

They continued their exploration. Shippou dashed back and forth, bearing handfuls of lollipops, chocolate bars, and boxes of weird straw-shaped cookies dipped in chocolate. 

"Pleeeeease, Buffy?" he begged each time he returned. "Please? Kagome always brings me some treats..."

Buffy, who had a younger sister and was thus immune to his big pleading eyes, shook her head, and repeated, a little less patiently than before: "One treat, Shippou. Just _one_. I don't want your little fangs to rot away from all the sugar."

His eyes grew huge. "It makes your teeth ROT?" 

The next time he returned, the three Slayers were examining the produce section, and Buffy was feeling more than a little dizzy from the prices. _Four dollars for just one apple?_ Granted, it was a perfect apple, and beautifully wrapped in tissue paper, but still..._four dollars_! 

"Let's get this for Inuyasha!" The little kitsune was cradling a bag of what looked like potato chips at first glance. Then Buffy saw the picture of the dog printed on the bag. 

Faith started laughing. "Dog-treats? For the guy with the ears?" 

Sango shot her an unreadable glance, then knelt to look Shippou in the eye. "Put that back, Shippou-chan," she said, very quietly and very firmly "It's not nice to treat Inuyasha like an animal."

The kitsune's eyes began to swim with tears..._Manipulative little kid trick number three_, thought Buffy. And from the stern look on her face, Sango wasn't buying it, either. 

"But Inuyasha's always so mean to me! Why can't I be mean to _him_, once in a while?" wailed Shippou.

"Because, mean or not, Inuyasha is your protector, and you should treat him respectfully, like you would an older brother."

Shippou's shoulders slumped. He looked hopefully at Faith, who returned a quizzical glance. "What's he saying?"

"He wants to buy those for Inuyasha. Sango and I both think that's a bad idea," Buffy replied. 

"What...the dog-demon guy doesn't have a sense of humor?"

A hundred explanations about the treatment of hanyou five hundred years ago sped through Buffy's brain, but she said only, "Kagome's the the only one who can get away with teasing him. And I agree with Sango: Inuyasha's a nice kid, and I think this would hurt his feelings."

"Okay," said Faith, but Buffy noticed that she and Shippou had locked glances again.

oo0oo

"You smell just like Kagome!" Shippou exclaimed, delightedly, jumping shamelessly into Mrs. Higurashi's arms the moment she entered the house. 

The family was finally back from the hospital. Kagome looked really out of it, and Inuyasha had her by the elbow as they entered the house. He even knelt to help her remove her shoes, Buffy noticed, approvingly. 

Grandpa was sporting a cast on one arm, and Kagome's little brother looked beyond excited to meet the rest of Kagome's friends. 

"You must be Shippou," Mrs. Higurashi said, hugging him and smiling. "My daughter talks about you all the time."

"Really?" demanded Shippou, his face buried in Mrs. Higurashi's neck. "What does she say?"

Before she could reply, Miroku stepped forward,. 

"I am honored," he said, smoothly, taking Mrs. Higurashi's hand. "To meet the woman who has sent us so many delicious bento over the past months." He gave her his most charming smile. 

Mrs. Higurashi turned pink. "Oh no, please don't mention it," she murmured.

"And may I compliment you on your two fine children? You must have been a mother at an early age--you look so youthful, Higurashi-sama!"

_Oh no_, thought Buffy. _Don't say it, Miroku!_

Inuyasha had stopped, and was regarding his friend with narrowed eyes. Kagome closed her eyes, and to Buffy it looked as if the girl were praying for patience.

Miroku clasped Mrs. Higurashi's hand even tighter. "Could I ask a favor of you? Have you ever considered bearing a third child..._my_ child?" 

The kitchen went dead-silent. 

Mrs. Higurashi stared at Miroku, obviously taken aback, and Buffy saw Sango move in, ready to whap the monk upside the head. 

Then Kagome's Mama smiled sweetly at Miroku. "I've heard of you, Miroku-sama," she said softly. "Aren't you the one who's always hiding in the bushes, trying to watch my daughter bathe?" 

_Score!_ As Inuyasha guffawed, Buffy saw Miroku's face turn a deep crimson shade that clashed with his purple overrobe. 


	28. Dating Your Watcher is Probably Against ...

26 26. Dating Your Watcher is Probably Against the Rules

_Higurashi Shrine, Tokyo, the present day_

With Sango and--surprisingly--Faith helping chop vegetables and make marinade, dinner preparations were going well in the Higurashi household. 

The delicious smell of garlic and ginger sauteeing in hot oil followed Buffy out of the kitchen as she carried a platter of boneless chicken, neatly chopped and threaded onto long bamboo skewers along with onions, out to the front yard, where Grandpa and Miroku were tending the hibachi. 

The injured combatants, Kouga and Kagome, were both napping, Kagome in her bedroom and Kouga stretched out on the couch in the living room.

As Buffy made her way to the front of the house, Inuyasha's voice, pitched low, caught her attention. "...apologize...my fault...Kagome got hurt..."

A flash of red robes, and she stopped. One of the sliding doors lining the main hallways was open a couple of inches. Peeking in, she saw what must be Souta's bedroom--_unless Grandpa Higurashi has a thing for giant-robot posters...?_

Inuyasha stood in front of Mrs. Higurashi, hands tucked into the wide sleeves of his freshly-laundered kimono-thingy. 

_Inuyasha's bowing to Kagome's Mom?_

Yep. Definitely bowing. Talk about the last thing she ever expected to see! Buffy hovered at the doorway, trying to figure out what was going on. 

Inuyasha's long silver hair curtained his face, hiding his expression. 

Mrs. Higurashi sighed. "I don't blame you. My father told me what came out of the well." She shuddered.

"Yeah. But I _should_ have--" Inuyasha began to mutter.

"Please, don't be so hard on yourself. I know you did your best." She reached out and ran her fingers lightly over one of his ears. It twitched under her touch. "I trust you, Inuyasha. But, tell me, please. Do you think you can win against that--that _thing_? Kagome told me it's gathered most of the shards of the Shikon no Tama."

His head was still bowed. "I'll keep her safe. I'll bring her home. I'll _always_ bring her home to you." His voice sounded rougher than usual. 

And Buffy noticed he hadn't really answered Mrs. Higurashi's question. Which told her all she needed to know. 

_Damn. They're good people, all of them_._ Even the demons._

Suddenly ashamed of her eavesdropping, Buffy tiptoed away, leaving them to finish their conversation in private.

oo0oo

"...and when you didn't return within three days, I became worried about the seals on the well holding out against another wave of youkai," Koji was saying, between neat bites of grilled chicken and onions from his chopsticks. "Given the evidence of the previous attacks, I was able to convince the Watcher's Council to authorize emergency airfare for another Slayer to protect Tokyo..." 

But as he talked, Buffy noticed that his gaze kept sliding over to Kouga, who was seated at the other end of the table, next to Mrs. Higurashi...and safely away from Inuyasha. 

Koji gave a small, embarrassed chuckle as he realized he'd been caught peeking. "Is he really a full-blooded youkai?" Buffy heard the same wistful tone she'd heard in Giles's voice many a time. "There are _so_ many things I'd like to ask him...not many native Japanese youkai left in this day and age..."

Faith, sitting on Koji's other side, caught Buffy's gaze, and rolled her eyes expressively. _Watchers!_

Buffy found herself agreeing. Koji was sort of cute--no, make that _extremely_ cute, with his dimple and spiky, highlighted hair---but he was definitely geeky, like every other Watcher she'd ever met. 

Sitting across the table from them, Kagome frowned. "Grandpa, you really should have mentioned that Minamide-sensei and Faith-san were here, too, when I phoned you from the train station. I was worried sick about you, here all alone!"

Grandpa muttered something unintelligible into his rice.

Koji grinned, and the dimple reappeared in his cheek. "It would have been remiss of me to allow giant bugs to invade your neighborhood, Kagome-chan." 

Mrs. Higurashi had found another table in one of the shrine's outbuildings, and the guys had carried it into the house. It was a tight fit in the kitchen/dining room area, but everyone had a place to sit, even if the chairs were mismatched. 

Shippou, the little mooch, had made himself at home on Mrs. Higurashi's lap, where he was shamelessly sucking up to her and sharing her plate of food. 

At Buffy's end of the table, Miroku and Grandpa Higurashi were busy discussing the history of the shrine, and Inuyasha was gobbling down his food in his usual manner, as if he was afraid that someone might take it from him if he didn't eat quickly enough. 

Ten days ago, Buffy had been appalled by his table manners. Now that she knew a little more about him, and could guess what his boyhood must have been like, she wondered how close he had come to starving before he grew big enough--and strong enough--to feed himself. 

At least he was using his chopsticks...but only because Kouga was using his. Speaking of which, Kouga also looked as if he were sucking up mightily to Kagome's Mom. 

But Buffy didn't think Inuyasha had to worry about being replaced in the Higurashi family's affection--she noticed that Mrs. H. had given the hanyou an extra dish of his favorite bright yellow pickles. 

"So, what are you going to do now, Sango?" asked Buffy. The other Slayer had been sitting silently amidst the hubbub of the other conversations around the table. "Are you and the others going to do a bit of sightseeing around Tokyo before going back to your time? I could probably extend my stay a little and play tourist with you guys..."

Sango shook her head. "We have to return as soon as possible, Buffy-chan. You got your Portal Key back, but Naraku still has the shards. We must find him before he regenerates his strength."

Inuyasha's ears had twitched at the mention of Naraku. "We'll leave right after dinner," he announced, around a mouthful of food. "Kagome, are you pack--"

"No," said Mrs. Higurashi, calmly, but something in her tone brought all the conversations at the table to a halt. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha," she said into the resulting silence. "But my daughter isn't going _anywhere_ until she's feeling better."

"I'm fine, Mama," Kagome said. But she didn't look fine. She looked exhausted, even after her nap, and there were dark shadows under her eyes.

Inuyasha put his elbows on the table, his brows drawn and mouth set in a stubborn expression. Mrs. Higurashi met his gaze, and everyone at the table--Buffy included--held their collective breaths.

Then, to Buffy's surprise, Inuyasha looked away first. 

"Forgot humans heal so slow," he muttered. "Fine. She can stay until her ribs heal."

"Thank you." Mrs. Higurashi smiled at him. "More pickles?"

"They're a funny color," said Shippou. "I saw them at the food-merchant's today. They even had red and green pickled daikon!"

Mrs. Higurashi turned her smile on the little kitsune. "Shippou-chan, I forgot to thank you for helping Faith-san, Buffy-san, and Sango-san purchase the ingredients for this fine dinner."

"The shop was great! I even," he said, in a too-casual tone, with a sideways glance at Faith. "Bought Inuyasha a present!"

_Uh-oh_, thought Buffy, as Faith smirked. _Please tell me she didn't actually_...

But Shippou didn't produce the expected bag of doggie treats. 

Instead, it was even worse. He reached into his vest, brought out a small package wrapped in tissue paper, and tossed it over to Inuyasha.

The hanyou caught it with a suspicious glare, and tore off the paper with a single swipe of his claws. 

It was a vinyl bone chew-toy. 

Inuyasha looked down at it blankly for a second, then Buffy heard the growl start in his chest. He vaulted over the table with a clatter of dishes as Shippou shrieked and ran. 

"I am _not_ a fucking dog, dammit!" The hanyou took off in pursuit, his bare feet drumming on the wooden floor.

"What did he say?" Faith asked, looking just a little too innocent. "What's going on?"

With a sigh, Buffy translated. As Faith began laughing her ass off--as expected, thought Buffy, sourly--she noticed that Kagome was glowering in the direction of the doorway Inuyasha had disappeared through. 

Faith saw it, too. "Oh, man, I think the dog-boy is going to catch hell later!" she said, between giggles. "Did you _see_ him jump over the table? He looked just like one of those kung-fu movie guys!" 

Miroku calmly helped himself to more rice and vegetables. "The crisis must indeed be at an end, " he observed. "If Shippou-chan and Inuyasha have stopped being on their best behavior. I was quite concerned, for a while."

"Hai, hai," murmured Mrs. Higurashi, Granpa, Sango, and Souta in chorus. Taking Miroku's cue, they resumed their meals with unnaturally serene expressions. 

After a moment, Kouga picked up his chopsticks again. "Kagome," he said. "How can you stand that rude, immature guy? You would be better off as _my_ woman." 

"Maybe I would," Kagome said, biting off each word. 

Buffy could practically see storm clouds gathering over her head as the sound of Inuyasha's swearing, Shippou's shrieks, and pounding footsteps resounded through the house. 

Something crashed to the floor upstairs with a breaking sound.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome, looking nearly as murderous as she did when blasting Naraku, pushed her chair back from the table. 

Kouga almost fell over himself rushing to help her up. Then he caught sight of her expression, and backed away. Kagome braced her hands against the table, slowly got to her feet, and, very deliberately, walked to the door of the kitchen. 

She waited, as the sounds of pounding feet went back and forth upstairs. Finally, Buffy heard them start back down the stairs. 

Kagome put her hands on her hips. 

"Inuyasha," she said, very quietly. 

"Wha--?"

"Osuwari!" 

An indignant yell, one last crash, and the sounds of pursuit ceased. 

"What happened?" Faith asked.

"Long story," snapped Buffy, not wanting to give the other Slayer any additional ammunition.

"Shippou-chan," Kagome said, in same dangerously quiet tone. 

"K-kagome?" The little kitsune's voice quavered as he edged cautiously in the kitchen. 

"That was _unkind_, Shippou-chan."

Shippou drooped visibly. "It was just a joke, Kagome! Inuyasha has no sense of humor!" 

"Apologize to him, please." Kagome returned to her seat. After a cautiously assessing glance, Kouga solicitiously took her elbow and helped her down. 

There was still no sound from Inuyasha, who was presumably pinned face-down on the tatami until the subduing spell wore off.

"How come I _always_ have to apologize?" wailed Shippou. "Inuyasha never apologizes to anyone!"

Mrs. Higurashi surprised them all by saying, "That's not quite true."

Kagome gave her mother a swift glance with raised eyebrows, then looked down at the little kitsune. "_Please_, Shippou-chan. I know your mother and father raised you right." 

_Oh, she's good_, thought Buffy. _Only fifteen, and she already knows how to guilt-trip like a Mom!_

Shippou pouted a few seconds longer, then he ran over to put his head in Kagome's lap."Okay," he agreed. "But only because _you_ asked me to."

"Sango," asked Buffy. "Did Shippou steal that dog-toy from the store?" 

Sango, who looked suspiciously pink from suppressed laughter, shook her head. "Faith-san bought it for him." 

"You bought it?" Buffy asked Faith, in English. "Faith!" 

Faith was still giggling. "Ohmigod. That was the funniest thing I've ever--did you _see_ his face?" At Buffy's glare, she took a deep lungful of air, and tried to control herself. "Okay, okay. I'll apologize later. I promise." 

Buffy frowned at that, remembering Faith's favorite way of dealing with the aftermath of battles. She asked, tartly, "So, how are things with you and Principal Hottie? You guys still an item?"

"Sort of," answered Faith. She leaned back in her chair, and stretched. "I mean, Giles drafted him into the new Watcher organization, along with that creepy little twerp Andrew, so we, uh, still see a lot of each other." 

She gave a slow, salacious smile that left absolutely no doubt in Buffy's mind as to what _seeing_ Robin actually involved. 

For a moment, Buffy considered telling Faith to keep her paws off Inuyasha, then figured that the dog-boy was old enough...and strong enough...to take care of himself. 

oo0oo

"Where's Inuyasha?" Shippou asked, a couple of hours later. 

The group--minus Kagome, who had made her goodbyes back at the house--stood gathered around the Bone-eater's Well, waiting for Buffy and Koji to open the portal to the Sengoku-jidai. 

"Never mind about him," Kouga said, with a shrug. "Dog-turd can catch up with us later." 

But Inuyasha had been right behind them as they walked down from house. _Speaking of which_, thought Buffy, looking around. _Where's Faith?_

Not that the other Slayer had any vested interest in saying goodbye to the gang, but still, her absence, combined with Inuyasha's, made Buffy a little uneasy.

She pushed the thought out of her mind, and turned her attention back to the group of humans and demons who had become her friends in the short time they'd traveled together. 

"I'm going to miss you all," Buffy said, and gave Sango a hug. 

The taijya stiffened momentarily in surprise, then returned the hug. "Come and visit us again, please, Buffy-chan. We could use your help in fighting Naraku."

"I'll think about it." Buffy smiled. "And don't let Miroku get fresh with you, even if he is your Watcher now. Are you sure you're okay with that?" 

Koji and the monk had come to an agreement at some point over dinner, and Sango hadn't protested. But then again, she was so damned polite, it was hard to tell what she was thinking. 

Sango shrugged. "Houshi-sama is a learned man. It makes sense for him to take responsibility for being my youkai-scholar. Even if he _is_ a lecher." Her tone was casual, but she blushed a little as she said this.

"Yeah, well, you have any problems, just tell Kagome, and Koji will straighten him out," Buffy said, with a wry grin. 

"I take my responsibilities _very_ seriously," Miroku interjected, in a hurt tone. "And I would never take advantage of Sango-san...unless she wanted me to."

Buffy noticed that his gaze was fastened to Sango's chest, where Hiraikotsu's carrying strap cut across her breasts and pulled the neckline of her kimono down a bit. 

She sighed silently, and extended her hand to Miroku. "It's been a pleasure, Miroku-sama." 

His eyes lit up, and an instant later, Buffy found herself crushed to his chest. "This is how friends part in Kari-funya, is it not?" he murmured. 

She laughed, and hugged him back. "Yeah."

Then she felt his evil hand cup one of her butt-cheeks, and pushed him away, hard enough to make him stagger. "Except for _that_ part. Jeez, don't you _ever_ stop trying?"

"Not while I'm still alive," he said, but Buffy caught the underlying sadness in his tone. 

"Great. You're gonna grow up to be one of those dirty old men on the park benches." 

He smiled, curling his evil hand into a fist. "If Buddha wills it...and we defeat Naraku in time." 

"If anyone can do it, it's you guys, houshi-sama," Buffy said. "And try to keep your hands off Sango. I think it's probably against the rules for Slayers to date their Watchers."

"_Now_ you tell me!" But he was chuckling as he stepped back.

"My turn!" Shippou leapt in her arms.

She kissed his cheek, and got one of his cute little fanged smiles in return. "Please, _please_ come visit us, Buffy! And bring me some candy when you do!"

That left only the wolf-prince. "Kouga-kun, I'm glad I had the chance to meet you," she said. "Thank you for helping me." She extended her hand.

"Anything for one of Kagome's friends," he said, his fingers closing around hers. 

On impulse, Buffy hugged him too, his armor pressing against her chest. She stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Startled, he turned his face at exactly the wrong--or right--moment, depending on how you looked at it. Her mouth met his, squarely. 

He gave a muffled yelp against her lips, and she felt him jump, as if he'd just received an electric shock instead of a kiss. 

She pulled away. "Um, sorry?"

God, he was cute when he blushed! He was staring at her with a panicked expression. Then, with visible effort, he regained control of himself. "Please don't apologize. I'm, uh, I'm...flattered." But she saw him edging back, as if he were afraid she would try to kiss him again. 

"Try not to beat up on poor Inuyasha, too much," she said, knowing it sounded lame but unable to think of anything else to say. 

He scowled. "I should probably stay here with Kagome--" 

Sango cut him off. "Time to go, Kouga-kun." Without actually touching him, she managed to herd him over the edge of the well, which was now glowing blue in response to the Portal Key that Koji held. 

As Sango followed Kouga, Shippou, and Miroku down into the portal, she turned one last time, and waved to Buffy.

Then they were gone, and the light extinguished itself. 

"Good-bye," whispered Buffy, with a pang, wondering if she'd ever see them again. It wasn't as if the Watcher's Council would lend her a Portal Key any time she wanted to make a jaunt to the past. 

oo0oo

Returning from the well-house with Koji, something caught her eye--a flash of pale hair in the darkness just outside the faint glow of the shrine lamps.

"You go on ahead," she told Koji. "I want to talk to Inuyasha."

He nodded, and continued on across the courtyard. 

Buffy heard an angry exclamation, and hurried forward. 

She stopped short. Faith had Inuyasha cornered in the courtyard around the Sacred Tree. 

He looked flustered--and mad--but the other Slayer seemed oblivious as she leaned into him, chest first. 

"Half-human, hmmm? And which half would that be?" she purred, in English, running a finger over his rosary beads. 

"Get away from me, bitch!" Inuyasha growled, in Japanese. He tried backing away, and found himself pinned against the fence enclosing the Sacred Tree.

Crossing her arms, Buffy waited to see if an intervention would be required. 

Faith laughed at his flusterment, and continued pressing herself against him. "C'mon, dog-boy, I just wanna have a little fun."

"Get away from me!" Inuyasha made a strangled sound as Faith gave him an open-mouthed kiss. 

"God, you're so cute! What's the matter--you still a virgin, or something?" She grabbed his hair, and pulled him down for another kiss. 

"Bitch!" He pushed her away so hard that she flew across the courtyard, coming to rest near Buffy's legs. 

_Nope, no intervention required, _thought Buffy, looking down at Faith.

"You really should learn to take _no_ for an answer, Faith." Buffy was having a hard time not laughing at the shocked look on the other Slayer's face. "Or at least learn some basic Japanese. I could have told you he wasn't interested."

"Because he's already in love with _you_?" Faith snorted. "What _is_ it with you and demons, B.?" 

Buffy sighed, loudly.

Faith looked at Inuyasha speculatively. He was scrubbing his mouth with the back of his hand. "Tell me you're not _really_ dating him!"

"What's she saying?" demanded Inuyasha. Buffy waved him off. 

"I'm not dating him, Faith. He's sweet on Kagome, and he's really not your type. And...he's a friend of mine " Which, surprisingly enough, was true now, even if it hadn't been at the beginning of this whole adventure. "So, just lay off.

"What_ever_," Faith said, sounding bored. "I only wanted to apologize for the whole stabbing-misunderstanding thing this afternoon." 

She sauntered off in the direction of the house, but with an entirely unworthy sense of glee, Buffy noticed the other Slayer was limping a little.

Prison time--and her friendship with Angel--seemed to have dulled Faith's malicious edge, but she was still as wild as ever. 

Inuyasha's harsh demand yanked Buffy's attention back to him. "Kagome? What were you saying about Kagome, bitch?"

"Nothing. It was all just a misunderstanding, Inuyasha," Buffy said coolly, walking over to him. 

"That taijya seems to _misunderstand_ things a lot." His silver hair was mussed, and he still looked kind of skittish. 

"Yeah, she does. Oh, and, Inuyasha?" She reached up and he actually flinched. "You've got lipstick on your ear."


	29. Epilogue: Concerning Schoolgirls, Naught...

Epilogue: Concerning Schoolgirls, Naughty and Otherwise Epilogue: Concerning Schoolgirls, Naughty and Otherwise

_Higurashi Shrine, Tokyo, the present day_

"You sure you don't want to come with me, B.?" Faith asked, from the back seat of the taxi that had come to pick her up. "The nightclub action's supposed to be great in the Roppongi district."

Buffy, leaning on the open door of the taxi, shook her head. "I still have some stuff to wrap up here, and then I'm catching a flight to Australia tomorrow. But thanks for the offer." 

"Well, if you change your mind and head for where the lights are bright and the music's loud..." Faith let her head loll against the taxi's headrest.

"Actually, I'm fantasizing about a long, hot bath right now," Buffy grinned. "Not many of those in the sixteenth century."

"Yeah, well...bye, I guess." Faith reached for the door handle. 

"Oh, wait--I thought you might need this." Buffy handed over her rather battered Japanese phrasebook. "Just so you won't get into any trouble."

"Maybe I should've gotten the language implant thingy," Faith replied with a smirk, stuffing the little book into her jacket pocket.

"Believe me, you don't want it." Buffy squeezed her eyes shut in remembered pain. "I thought my head was going to explode." She stepped back from the car. "Bye. And thanks for helping out Kagome's family--they're good people, y'know?"

Faith made a wry face. "And they date demons. I can see how you guys have a lot in common." 

Buffy slammed the taxi door with a bit more force than was probably required. She stayed long enough to watch the taxi's tail-lights disappear in the distance, then began the long climb back up to the shrine.

A dark shape was waiting for her just under the torii. Long hair, baggy clothes, a pair of triangular ears perched on top of his head. 

"Oi, Buffy." Inuyasha's tone sounded almost..._hesitant_, and that, if nothing else, caught her attention. 

She stopped. "Yeah?" 

"I want to ask you something." He was studying his bare feet intently. "Um, about girls."

"Why me?" Buffy asked, intrigued. "I mean, I don't mind, but you don't even _like_ me." 

"You're--you're okay." He ducked his head. "I didn't know who else to ask. And you're a girl." 

"So's Sango," Buffy pointed out, reasonably enough. She moved past him, into the shrine's lower courtyard. "And Kagome."

Inuyasha stayed put. It was dark, but it looked almost as if he were clinging to the torii's pillar for support.

"I asked Sango first," he admitted. "She said she didn't know anything, but she told me to talk to you since you've had boyfriends. And--" He stopped. 

It was too dark, and the little lamps around the courtyard too dim to see much except for the general shape of his face, but Buffy would have bet he was blushing again. 

"And?" she asked, after a long moment had passed. 

"And you're leaving tomorrow." Inuyasha turned away from her. "If I asked any of the others, I'd never hear the end of it. At least you won't be able to give me shit about asking dumb questions once you're gone."

Buffy could only imagine what had driven this proud, prickly half-demon kid to ask her for dating advice. 

"Okay," she said, making her tone as welcoming as possible. She walked back to the torii, sat down on one of the steps, and patted the ground next to her invitingly. "I solemnly promise I won't give you shit for asking me questions about girls."

"Yeah?" He still sounded suspicious, as if he hadn't quite made up his mind to go through with the conversation.

Buffy smiled, counting on his superior night-vision to communicate her expresssion. "After all, how else are you supposed to figure out this whole boy-girl thing? 

"Really? You mean I'm not...uh, weird for not knowing this stuff?" After a moment, Inuyasha lowered himself to crouch next to her, his hands resting on the ground between his bare feet. 

"So..." Buffy said brightly, after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. "What do you want to know?"

He shifted, and she saw his fingers clench. "When you're a hanyou, most girls are scared of you. Kikyo was the first one who ever, uh, _liked_ me. And Kagome...well, she...I...I would never hurt her! But maybe I'm supposed to?"

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, keeping her tone carefully neutral. 

This was probably the most she'd ever heard him talk. He was a one-liner kind of guy, and if nothing else, this told her how desperate he was.

"That picture-book," he mumbled. "All those things that the men were doing to the girls. It looked like they were hurting them. And the girls were crying and saying _Stop, please stop_. But the men didn't." Inuyasha huffed. "Aren't you supposed to...stop? If you're hurting them?" 

Buffy sighed. "Yeah, you're supposed to stop."

Inuyasha tilted his head. "Then...why?" 

"It's just that book is a fantasy, you know," Buffy said, carefully. How did you explain porn to a half-demon boy from the medieval era? "Some men find it exciting to, um, dominate. To hurt. But that's not the only way, and if there's ever pain, it should be because both of you want it."

"But that's what the youkai do, not humans. They bite and tear at each other." Inuyasha looked even more confused. "Humans kiss and...and shit like that."

Buffy sighed again. "Look, I don't really understand it myself." 

_Liar,_ whispered a voice in her mind. She didn't want to remember those dark months with Spike after her resurrection, when her pleasure hadn't seemed quite real without pain to anchor it. She had craved feeling something..._anything_...in an existence grown unreal to her. 

Inuyasha was looking at her questioningly, and Buffy realized she had stopped speaking. "How far have you gotten with Kagome?"

"She's got broken bones!" Inuyasha said indignantly. "I'm not an animal!" His ears twitched, violently. 

Buffy just waited. 

Finally, he said, "We've, um, kissed."

"Did she like it?"

Inuyasha nodded. 

"Did you?" Face averted, he nodded again. 

"Well, you're off to a good start. Look, whatever you do, don't take that comic book as any kind of guidance. It wasn't meant for you--or Kagome."

"But...what should I do? What would she like?"

Buffy blinked. "Are you asking me for _sex_ advice?"

He scowled. "You're laughing at me." He started to rise, outrage bristling from him.

"I'm not. I'm really not!" Buffy reached up and caught the wide sweep of his sleeve. "I'm just--surprised. And, um, a little embarrassed." 

At his look, she relented. _He must be really desperate if he's willing to go this far_. "Look, like I said, it's different for everyone, but here are some of the things _I_ like..."

When she had finished telling him a version that she tried desperately to edit down to, at most, an "R", his eyes had gone nearly as wide as they had with the comic book. "You think that Kagome might really want me to do _that_ to her?"

Buffy shrugged. "Look, she's, what, sixteen? She probably doesn't even know about that. Heck, I'm not sure I should have even told _you_. Although--" She studied him. And his sharp, sharp teeth. "Um, you turn into a human every so often, right?"

"Why do you wanna know?" She saw his suspicious expression in the faint glow of the shrine's terrace lamps. 

"Maybe...if you're going try _that_...wait for a night when you don't have the fangs." She paused. "And don't forget to use protection." 

He looked blank. "Protection from what? Youkai attacks? Because I'm human that night?"

_Shoot. I keep forgetting that they didn't know about that stuff in the sixteenth century_. 

"No, protection so that Kagome doesn't become pregnant. If you guys get that far, just ask her, okay? She'll know what to do." _I hope. They have sex ed in Japanese high school, right?_

He looked down again, intently studying the stone step between his bare feet. "Won't need it," he mumbled. "I can't--_hanyou_ can't-- " 

Long, uncomfortable pause. Buffy waited patiently. 

Finally, it came out in a rush: "Sesshoumaru told me hanyou can't have children. Because our blood is impure. We're like mules, he said."

"Oh."_ Asshole brother, indeed._ Buffy considered this, trying to remember high school biology. Though she was pretty sure that her teachers had never discussed demon reproduction. "I'm sorry."

"Do think Kagome will...mind? I mean, not that I want to _marry_ her, or anything." A shade of his old bravado returned, but Buffy wasn't fooled. She had seen enough this past week to know he used his grumpiness and rudeness to conceal his feelings. "But should I tell her before we...um, before we do that _thing_?"

He was still looking overwhelmed. Buffy squeezed his shoulder. "Look, don't rush things, okay?"

He shook his head, yellow eyes fixed on her face.

"And be gentle. You're really strong, and--" Buffy reached for his hand and traced the slender length of one forefinger. "You'll have to be _very_ careful." She tapped his long, wickedly-sharp claw for emphasis. "But you seem pretty in tune with Kagome...you can tell the difference when she's hurting, or if she's enjoying, right?"

He nodded. 

"Use that as your guide. It's different for everyone, Inuyasha. Even with my, uh--my boyfriends, it was different with each one. She's still really young, and so are you. Why don't you just stick to kissing and holding hands for a while, and then see what develops? When you're ready, you'll know."

"She's got to heal first," he said, snorting. "Takes such a long time with humans. If it were _me_, I'd be all better by now."

"In the meanwhile--" Buffy rose to her feet and dusted off the seat of her jeans. "Regarding what I told you..." She paused, and cleared her throat. Then it came to her: "'With great power comes great responsibility,' Inuyasha. Don't abuse your knowledge, and for God's sake, _don't_ tell Miroku, whatever you do."

They walked companionably back to the house. 

"You hungry?" asked Inuyasha, as Buffy stooped to remove her shoes. "I know where Kagome's mom keeps the ramen."

"Speaking of her mother, don't _ever_ tell her, either, okay? She'd probably skin you alive for thinking about her little girl that way. Then she'd come hunt _me_ down." Buffy shuddered.

"Okay." If Buffy didn't know better, she would have said Inuyasha was looking thoughtful as he began rummaging through the cupboards.

oo0oo

After that uncomfortable--and highly educational--conversation, Inuyasha had one more favor to ask of Buffy, which she granted with that annoyingly superior smile of hers. 

Then he marched straight to Higurashi's bathing chamber. He frowned at the strange silver knobs for a long moment, trying to remember the sequence from his previous visits here, and managed to produce water that was--for once--not scaldingly hot. 

He removed the bandages on his chest and back with a single slice of his claws. The skin had already healed, but his gut was itching furiously as his youkai blood set about repairing the internal damage. He flexed his fingers with the instinctive desire to scratch--this was the part of healing that he hated. It was worse than getting injured in the first place. 

At least it would be finished by morning. Poor Kagome, whose weak human body would take weeks to heal from the injuries that Naraku had inflicted! 

His nose wrinkling, Inuyasha poured out some of Kagome's thick, fruit-scented bathing liquid, and spent a long time scrubbing the scent of Naraku--and Faith--from his skin. 

Buffy had touched him, too, but that had been different. He hadn't smelled anything but friendliness and gentle teasing from her. Not like the dark-haired girl with the painted lips. _That_ one had smelled hungry...and desperate. 

Kagome was already dozing by the time he entered her room. Her scent was laced with the bitter smell of the painkillers that the doctor had prescribed, but as least she looked relaxed. 

Her heartbeat jumped. "Inuyasha! I thought you went back with the others. And where's Buffy-chan?" 

"Downstairs. She's sleeping in the living room tonight." He settled down, cross-legged on her bed, and lifted her into his lap. She curled against his chest with a sigh, and he suddenly felt much better. 

She smiled at him, a bit shyly and lightly drew her fingers down his cheek.

Inuyasha kissed her, and felt the now-familiar reassurance when her scent changed after a few moments. 

Kagome had always _said_ she liked him as a hanyou, but words were slippery things. More often than not, people used them to lie. 

But scent...scent didn't lie. And when he kissed her, when he touched her, he knew that this much was true: she wasn't repulsed by his claws. Or his teeth. Or his ears. 

And if he kissed her long enough, her scent would change again, becoming thicker, more delicious, her body indicating her interest in doing that _thing_ with him, even if her mind didn't know it yet. 

_Or maybe she does know_, he thought, dizzily, as she kissed him back. _Maybe she wants to...with me. When she's healed_. He remembered what Buffy had told him. 

_For Kagome, I'll be gentle_. _When the time comes_.

"I'll stay with you until you're healed," he said, between kisses, and heard her heartbeat speed up. That meant she was pleased, right?

"Can you really stay that long? It'll be weeks and weeks," Kagome whispered, raising a pleasant shiver as her lips moved against his throat. "And I don't want you to be...bored." She laughed, almost silently, and winced as the motion jarred her ribcage. "When you're bored, you get into trouble." 

"I do not!" he said indignantly. "I just need something to do. I'll--I'll help your grandpa fix the shrine. And I'll be returning through the well during the daytime, just to make sure that bastard Naraku isn't stirring up trouble. But I'll return to you every night."

He felt her happiness press against his skin like warm sunlight. Buffy had been right. He knew exactly when Kagome was hurting...and when she wasn't. 

"I don't want to be a burden," Kagome murmured, in her Polite Voice. "I could--"

Words again--the ones Kagome used to try and hide how she really felt. He stopped her words with another kiss, secretly pleased when her hand crept into his hair, drawing him closer. 

"Keh," he murmured, briefly lifting his mouth from hers. "You need me--how else are you going to sleep sitting up?" 

oo0oo

The next morning, it was time for Buffy to go. Her flight didn't leave until dinnertime, but she still had to give Koji her report of everything that happened, for his Watcher's Diary.

Koji left to fetch his car from where it was parked, giving Buffy the chance to make her goodbyes with Kagome, and the rest of the Higurashi family. 

Grandpa Higurashi gave her a Shikon-no-Tama keychain as remembrance of her adventures, and Kagome gave her a hug, promising to write and to keep Buffy up-to-date on her adventures on the other side of the well.

Inuyasha, who had been rather aloof through the girly protestations of undying friendship and affection, walked Buffy as far as the shrine gate. 

There he stopped, tucking his hands into his sleeves. Maybe remembering their conversation last night, he refused to meet her eyes. "So, you're really leaving?" 

Buffy nodded. "I guess this is goodbye." 

He cleared his throat. "Thanks for helping Kagome." He sounded like he had to force out the words, and hastily added: "Not that I couldn't have handled those wimpy youkai myself."

"Sure thing," Buffy put down her backpack, and grinned up at him. "You're a real tough guy, you know that?" 

"Eh, I guess." He glared at her from beneath his shaggy silver bangs. "You're making fun of me." 

"No, I'm not." Buffy reassured him. "And for coming across as such a jerk most of the time, you're a pretty nice guy." 

"Keh!" He looked away, nose in the air, but she knew him well enough by now to realize he was embarrassed.

"You know what else I thinking? Kagome has excellent taste in boyfriends." Then she added, just for good measure: "You, Kouga..."

"That fucking wolf isn't her--" Then he caught on. "You always say such stupid things," he muttered. 

Then, partly because she enjoyed discomfiting him, and partly because she just wanted to, she said, "Hey, Inuyasha. I'd like to say goodbye to you the way that friends part in California."

"And how is that?" he asked, suspiciously.

"Well, for one thing, we don't bow at each other."

He looked at her, questioningly. 

She stepped closer, went on her tiptoes, and gave him a hug. "Bye," she whispered, giving him a peck on his beardless cheek. "It's been a lot of fun."

His reaction wasn't quite as gratifying as Kouga's--but it was close. He went rigid, and blushed. 

With regret, Buffy saw Koji's Toyota pull up on the street below. 

"There was just one more thing," she said.

"What now?" Inuyasha asked, suspiciously, his cheeks still flaming from her embrace.

"Before I go, I _have_ to know--do you have a tail?" 

She waited for the inevitable explosion. But for once, he didn't look angry. Instead, he smirked at her. "You know what? I'm not gonna tell you."

Buffy scooped up her pack, and ran down the stairs to the street. 

"Don't worry," she called over her shoulder. "I'll just email Kagome, and ask her!" 

"Bitch!" But she could swear he was smiling behind her back.

"Jerk!" Grinning, she reached the bottom of the hill and waved good-bye at his scarlet-clad figure. After a moment, he raised his arm, and waved back. 

Buffy hopped into the waiting car. Koji greeted her, smiling, and she noticed that his dimple was back. _Definitely a cutie_. 

oo0oo

As Koji navigated the narrow streets to her hotel, Buffy thought about the email she was going to send Giles from the Internet café in Sydney tomorrow. He'd probably want to know all kinds of historical stuff, but that was okay. She hoped Sango and Miroku would be all right, and as for Kagome and Inuyasha... 

Smitten. He was definitely smitten. And so was Kagome. Buffy was confident that they'd work things out...and hopefully escape the same heartache that she had experienced.

_Speaking of working things out_...Buffy smiled. She still had the whole day in Tokyo before she had to leave 

"Koji-kun," she said, coming to a decision. "Do you like coffee?" 

It was probably against the rules to ask a Watcher out on a date, but she'd never been very good about following the rules. 

**--The End--**


End file.
